The Broken Stallion
by GrizzlyBiscuit
Summary: Fear can break anyone given enough time, even one Ranma Saotome. Is there anything that can save someone from the fear that lives within him? Alternate Universe slight to extreme OOC
1. When Pain Comes Calling

**I have come to the Ranma Universe to proclaim unto you, the readers, that this story shall be sent to the flames for the blasphemy that I shall bring unto you. This story is very AU, and something I was kicking around just for the fun of hearing it whimper in pain every time my pointed toenails came in contact with it.**

**Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 belongs to Takahashi Rumiko-sama. The flames that shall arise from this piece of fiction belong to me. Hell wasn't warm enough, so I needed to write something worse.**

* * *

Soun Tendo, head of his household and Master of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts stood on the walkway outside of the living room, contemplating the past. Normally, this was something he dreaded, especially when the past involved (shudders) the Master. However, this past was one that had to do with his long time friend and confidant, Genma Saotome.

It had been many years since he had last seen his friend, not since they had gone their separate ways after being rid of their (shudders again) Master. The last time they had spoken together was when they had agreed to each other that the schools would be joined when they had heirs. His time with his wife had been his life, and he had never contemplated the oath he made his friend until the postcard he received from his long time friend some days ago.

He pulled out the postcard he had placed inside his clothing, looking back over it once again as nostalgia and sentimentality made his eyes leak with shedding tears that cascaded down his cheeks and along the edges of his moustache. It was a last ditch hope for his children that they would have someone in their lives that would allow them to move on with what they wanted to do, instead of trapping them in his house and to their 'duty'.

A light rain began to fall as he turned to face back into the household, looking around idly at the things he and his wife had brought into this place that was their world. She still lived here for him, even though she had gone to the grave many years ago, she would always live here with him.

"Kasumi! Nabiki!" He called out for his two eldest children. The response from the kitchen at the back of the living room was almost instantaneous whereas the footsteps coming from the second floor were at a much slower pace.

Kasumi came in from the kitchen, her pristinely white apron looking as if it had never been used until that exact moment. Hair tied back in a ponytail that fell to the small of her back, she was the spitting image of her mother. It was unfortunate that she took on the motherly aspects instead of the martial aspects, damage around the house would have been kept to a bare minimum.

Nabiki's clothing was less than modest, jean shorts so short that you could barely make out the very edge of her backside and a tank top bright yellow in color that might as well have been sprayed on. The popsicle in her mouth made her look all the more unladylike in Soun's eye, but this was the moneymaker of the household so she could wear what she wanted.

"I need to talk to you two for a second." Soun motioned to the living room table. Nabiki's eyebrow shot up with interest and looked to her eldest sister before sitting down at the table with her, waiting for this epic announcement that was important enough to keep her from her money.

"Thank you for coming, I'll be as brief as possible." Soun said, knowing that Kasumi wouldn't want to leave the food by itself longer than necessary and Nabiki would rather be balancing the books than with him. "This is about a postcard I received in the mail a few days ago from a long time friend of mine."

"That Genma Saotome person?" Nabiki drawled as she replaced her popsicle back into her mouth. Her information network had brought back scant information of her father's friend, even less about the supposed 'son' he was bringing with him. Some times it was good helping the family out, certainly didn't hurt her information gathering if she rifled through mail that could easily be read before anyone else saw it.

Soun nodded, not surprised in the least that his middle daughter would make an educated leap like that. "Me and my old friend made an agreement that should we have any heirs, that we would attempt to merge the schools together. As you've deduced from reading the back of the postcard, Nabiki, they are coming some time today."

"Wouldn't it be better to discuss this with Akane, Father?" Kasumi said with a pleasant smile on her face. Sometimes, it hurt to look at her. That mindless nothing-can-go-wrong look on her face that she wore all the time. He wished there was more he could do for her to place a true smile on her face.

"Your sister…" Soun glanced over his shoulder to the pathway that led out of the living room and to the Dojo. "I'm afraid that whatever hope there was of Akane not trying to beat someone near her age and male into the dirt was lost the moment she was able to create that 'thing'."

Nabiki nodded sagely at this wise guess although Kasumi tilted her head in a silent acquiesce, you could almost hear the unspoken 'huh?' that the girl projected at the statement.

"In any event, I wanted to be completely forth coming with you girls because this is going to mean a major shift in the way our lives are handled around the house." Soun continued, leading them toward the inevitable blow up that was going to come from Nabiki and the gentle acceptance of Kasumi.

"We made an oath a long time ago that when our children were of age, we would bring them together and have them married." Nabiki's eyebrows drew down at this while Kasumi simply nodded sagely. "I wanted you both to know so that you two could at least have a few moments of time to think about this and decide for yourselves if this would be something you would be interested in."

"Daddy," Nabiki's upset tone spoke volumes to him, but she still spoke her mind, "Why the last minute information? Wouldn't it have been better to let us know about this arranged marriage before this came about?"

Soun nodded as he folded his arms and slid his hands up the other sleeve, giving his loose Yukata a straightjacket type view. "I'm debating on whether to break the oath or not."

Nabiki nodded to this. In this day and age, arranged marriages still happened, but more often than not, they didn't work out. Besides, she was only 17, still in school, there wasn't any way she was prepared to marry anyone until she was a successful businesswoman and had control of the world market, or her name wasn't Nabiki Tendo.

"How old is he, Father?" The voice of reason spoke demurely, bringing both sets of eyes up to her. Both Soun and Nabiki frowned sadly at the luminescent smile on the eldest daughter's face. "He's not too young, is he?"

"I've never met the boy, Kasumi." Soun bowed to his oldest daughter, trying to gain her forgiveness for his ignorance.

Nabiki's eyes snapped around to her father. "You've never met him, and you made this arrangement on our behalf?" She was irritated at his ignorance, to say the least.

"When the arrangement was made, it was long before we had our families." Soun acknowledged as he bowed also to his middle daughter. "In all honesty, I had forgotten all about the oath until the postcard arrived a few days ago. It is another reason why I am thinking of breaking the oath."

Kasumi stood slowly, her long skirt barely making a sound as she stood and moved toward the kitchen. It wasn't that she was upset at her father, or had heard enough of the conversation, or even that (Kami Forbid) she was being rude. She returned a moment later and reseated herself, smoothing her skirt around her legs as she took her place as the dutiful daughter. "Forgive me, dinner was about to burn." She explained, receiving a nod from her father. You haven't lived until you've had a home cooked meal from Kasumi.

"Anyways, I don't wish to decide my children's future for them." Soun continued where he had left off. "If you do not like him, I will inform my friend that the marriage is off and that will be the end of it."

Nodding to this wise information, Nabiki stood up from the table and headed back upstairs. She was nearly out in the hallway when she realized something. "You said they were coming today? When are they arriving?" She said as she turned back to look into the living room at her sister and her father.

"Knowing Genma, I expect him soon. Dinner is almost ready, isn't it, Kasumi?" Soun looked to his eldest daughter for the acknowledgement.

"Yes, Father. It is simmering right now, but can be served when everyone is ready." Kasumi did give a genuine smile at this. Pride flowed from her that her meal would be enjoyed by her loving family and being given to the new guests that would be arriving today, she couldn't have been more thrilled.

Nabiki nodded once and headed upstairs, looking down at herself before deciding it might be in her best interests to change clothing. She didn't want to come off as cheap in front of her perspective 'boyfriend'.

_

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/We now take you to your regularly scheduled insanity in progress/

* * *

_The streets of Nerima were covered in a gloom that washed into everything, dimming the bright toned colors into something dirty. Normally this would not be anything out of the ordinary, the dust that was usually heavy in the air after the local madhouse of martial artists kept a constant 5 o'clock shadow across everything. Even in the light rain, this would have barely made an effect on the people or the buildings around them. 

A wave of depression rolled through the streets ahead of what could arguably by the only time in the history of Nerima that everyone stopped what they were doing and stood in slack jaw amazement at the scene before them. A giant panda was walking down the street, holding a lead that went back and underneath the hood to a heavy, rat eaten tarp. The fact that this tarp was carrying two massive size backpacks that should have made people squirm in pain from the sheer weight didn't seem to bother anyone, it was the fact that the Panda seemed to be taking its 'pet' for a walk.

The panda stopped at a 4 way intersection, looking first one way, then down another, as if looking for something, before giving the lead a quick jerk before walking down a different street. The diminutive 5'4" form didn't hesitate as it followed behind the nearly 7' tall panda as they continued to walk onwards, looking for whatever it was that panda's look for.

Finally stopping in front of a sign read 'Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, Guests Please Knock, Challengers to the Rear Door', the panda rapped it's clawed paw against the door and waited patiently. It wasn't every day that a panda of all things walked down the street on its hind legs only, but then again, panda's normally didn't take their pets for a walk. Writing it off to the Nerima Factor, the people turned from the amazing sight and went back to what they had been doing. Bets started going around about when pigs would start flying. (if only they knew)

As if sensing her guests arriving, Kasumi had started setting the table minutes in advance before the knocking had come. Soun assumed that his daughter had gained some sixth sense much like what a highly trained martial artist gets after years of dedicated training, knowing the instant that a change in their opponent meant the incoming attack was imminent. At one point, she hesitated and her face crinkled into worry as she bit her lower lip, but it was gone and back to the pleasant smile it had been in a flash.

Soun, however, had seen it. He may have been rusty, but his eyes were still as good as ever. Something had disturbed his daughter's pleasantness, something he had assumed could never happen. If his middle daughter had been known by her colleagues at school as the 'Ice Queen of Furinkan High', Kasumi could only be called Goddess of Happiness. Yet she had sensed something that had thrown off that happiness, and whatever it was had to be of a magnitude equivalent to earth shattering.

Nabiki was coming downstairs, dressed in a fairly decent kimono. It wasn't her best clothing, but then again, she wasn't about to shock what could be the investment of a lifetime. Hearing the knocking coming from the front gate, she called to her family that she would open the door for whoever it was.

The scream of surprise that came from Nabiki had Soun running for the front door even as Nabiki came around the corner and away from whatever was after her. When the giant panda came around the corner of the hallway, Soun did the same thing his middle daughter did, giving up any pretense of trying to stop such a large animal and rushing back to the living room.

Nabiki cringed behind her father who sat at the farthest part of the table away from the beast, hoping that whatever the beast had come for, it would hurry up and leave the way it had come. "Daddy, do you know any giant pandas?" Nabiki's accusing, if freaked out, voice whispered into his ear even as the thing stood stock still in the middle of the walkway leading back outside and to the dojo.

"I've never seen anything that large in my entire life, unless it was at the zoo." Soun nearly shouted in fear. He had heard that giant pandas could be very vicious and could rip a man limb from limb before they started eating the flesh of their victims and sucking the marrow from their bones. Either that, or he had seen one too many cult horror films like Night of the Living Panda.

Amazing as this was, nothing prepared them for the panda reaching behind itself and pulling out a wooden sign from nowhere with writing on it. The sign read Please don't be alarmed before turning the sign to the back where more words continued with Can I please have some hot water?.

Kasumi, as if prepared for any contingency when it came to her kitchen, walked out of the room into the kitchen and back into the living room within seconds, bringing with her a teapot that was steaming. Handing over the pot to the clawed paw of the giant panda with no fear, she walked back and sat calmly next to her father.

The panda wasted no time as it tipped the pot over its head, causing what would be the forefront of troubles for years to come. Losing a foot of height and all its fur, a fat man in a dirty white gi stood before the Tendo family where once a panda had stood. He shook his bandana wrapped head briefly and readjusted the glasses that had mysteriously appeared on his face before smiling to all those in front of him.

"Saotome?" Soun sputtered as he looked at the aged fat man before him. The clothing was similar to what they had used when training under their (shudder) Master, though he had obviously packed on more poundage since last he had seen him with his wife.

"Tendo, my old friend." Genma announced as he bodily picked up the quaking thin man into his muscled arms and gave him the mother of all hugs, keeping his friends arms locked at his side. "It's so good to see you after so long."

_"I could have sworn…"_ Soun thought to himself as he patted the sides of his best friend before Genma released him. "It's good to see you as well, my friend. Please, have a seat, we were just about to eat dinner."

"Before that." Genma's face turned harsh as he turned around to the 5'4" person who had followed him. "Boy." The tarp shuddered even as it dripped rain onto the hard wood. "Go to the dojo and wait for me." The hood of the tarp looked to the left, then to the right before looking back at Genma, unmoving from where it stood.

"Didn't you hear me, boy?!" Genma reared back and gave a massive punch to the top of the tarp covered head, causing water droplets to splatter everywhere from the impact. The tarp covered form swayed as if stunned before righting itself and continuing to stand where it was.

"Saotome." Soun brought the attention of his friend around. "Maybe he doesn't know where the dojo is at?" He watched for a moment as Genma seemed to wrap his brain around the idea that his son didn't know where it was, but shook his head as if the thought was ridiculous.

"The ungrateful whelp is just being stubborn." Genma spat, turning his disapproving eyes to his son. "You wouldn't believe the trouble he's caused me over the last ten years of our training trip."

"If it is alright, I will show him to the dojo." Kasumi offered as she stood up. She smiled calmly to the older man, the friend of her father.

Genma eyed the eldest daughter as if she was conspiring against him before he simply dismissed it. She couldn't possibly know who he was, so there was nothing to be afraid of. "Thank you, that is very kind of you."

Accepting the praise at face value, Kasumi walked over to the boy and offered her hand to him. She was a bit unnerved that he didn't acknowledge her even as she drew her hand closer to the hood so that her hand could be seen. Genma tapped her shoulder, getting her to turn around with a questioning look before handing her the leash end. A quick flash of a frown crossed her face before she bowed politely to the man before she lead the boy away.

Turning back around with a huge grin on his face, Genma asked, "What's for dinner? I'm starving."

_

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/And now, your local weather report/

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_

Kasumi walked to the stone walkway that lead out to the dojo deep in thought. She had watched as a man turned into a panda in her house, which by itself was strange enough. What she had seen of the man treating his son had made her…upset. Yes, it was possible to make the ever blissfully happy Kasumi upset. She never got mad per se, she merely found a way to get back at you in what seemed to be a simple misunderstanding.

The rain seemingly knowing that Kasumi wished to cross out to the dojo stopped the moment she placed her foot down from the walkway to the stones as if someone had simply shut it off. The clouds even seemed to part for her, lighting the stone walkway as if to dry the wet stones for her even as she tread upon them.

At the steps that went up into the dojo, she turned around to her silent shadow. "I'm afraid you'll have to take your packs and hood off here." She spoke quietly to him. "Water on the floor in there is very hard to get out, so I must insist that you remove them and place them to the side." That wasn't quite the truth, sweat permeated everything there was about the dojo, but she wasn't about to show their mother's altar the sin of a wet floor if she could help it.

The boy complied slowly, removing the topmost pack and laying it to the side as if it was the most precious thing in the world before removing the second and tossing it to the side of the other. The tarp came off slowly, grimy hands pulling open the fabric as if afraid of what would happen if it was removed altogether. Kasumi smiled brightly, hoping to make the boy underneath more comfortable with just her presence.

That smile died a sickly death as the 'boy' came into view. His face was bruised, storm blue eyes staring dully from a mixture of purple and yellow flesh. The nose had been broken more than once if the bump on the bridge was any indication of an imperfect set. Dull red hair that was mangy and looked to have never been washed, not to mention the frayed pigtail hanging from the back off his head.

Then Kasumi noticed the rest. The red Chinese shirt had beep patched over and over again until it was nothing but a large patch, tied together with rope instead of the actual ties that should have been there. The arms held as many bruises as the face, and the fingers, thankfully, didn't seemed to have been broken though they were dirt encrusted.

The chest was the first give away that this was not a boy, though she had noted the lack of an adam's apple in the throat. She didn't want to acknowledge the burn mark that seemed to play across the skin along the neck, so she had not been too concerned about it. The dog collar that was cinched nearly overtop of the marking on her throat only served to draw the eye to it. With a bust size that practically screamed woman, she was getting the distinct impression that something was wrong with this entire scene.

"Kasumi, we're serving dinner." Nabiki called from the kitchen doorway, thankfully the angle was bad enough from there to not see what she was seeing.

The girl dropped the tarp where it was and removed the threadbare slippers from her feet, taking the end of the leash from the girl's hand and walking past her into the dojo, the sound of the door closing behind her snapping her out of her shock. Never in all her years had she seen anyone as beaten as that girl seemed to be. The bruises had been easier to dismiss as a part of training, but the layers upon layers of bruises was a little harder to deny. Settling her stomach as best as she could, she headed back for the house and the dinner that needed to be served.

_

* * *

/keep your eyes out for an on the loose mallet/

* * *

_

As dinner progressed, the sound of the front door opening and closing followed by a shouted "I'm Home" seemed to stop all but the human garbage disposal that was Genma Saotome.

A raven haired girl walked into the living room, brushing at the sweat on her brow with a hand towel she had left there specifically for her return from her jog. The yellow gi clung to the girl's neck and the headband kept her shoulder length hair out of her face as she walked into a dinner in progress.

She noticed the fat man right away and brandished a mallet from nowhere. "Who's the pervert?" the girl snarled just before she began her approach to smash the defiler of her household.

"Akane, this is my old friend, Genma Saotome." Soun said as he waved a hand in the general direction of his friend. Nearly losing a few fingers to the snapping jaws of doom, Soun brought his hand back to his lap.

"Oh." She said as the mallet seemed to fade away into this air. Taking her seat at the table, she thanked Kasumi for the meal before digging in.

"So, about what we saw, Genma." Soun offered, hoping to slow the man down from eating everything, including the table.

"It was a training accident that my incompetent son got us involved in." The form of a wooden handle zapped into existence over the raven haired girl's shoulder at the mention of son. "During our martial arts training in China, we came across a legendary training ground called Jusenkyo."

"I think I've heard that name before." Soun said as he tapped his chin, missing the sleight of hand Genma used to take away the man's meat.

"It's a cursed ground of legendary springs said to bring misfortune to anyone who falls into them." Genma offered around the mouthful that Soun's plate offered to him. "During our training, my son tried to run away and while asleep, tied me up and threw me into one of the pools, hoping to drown me."

Nabiki was thinking this was a crock, but she still listened. There might be money to be made in this information.

"I managed to slip free of my bonds and incapacitate him, but wasn't able to stop him in time from falling into a spring of his own." Genma crossed his arms sagely over his girth, nodding at his own plight. "It was only after he had fallen in did I realize that my form had been changed into that of a giant panda. I managed to save the useless boy from drowning in his own pool, only when he came out, he was a girl."

"That Pervert!" The raven haired girl shouted, spraying a mouthful of rice across the table and into her father's face. She jumped to her feet and pulled free her 'pervert basher' from her back, eyeing her sister's as if unsure if they were the boy in disguise.

"We found out later from a local that hot water changes us back into our original forms, but only temporarily. Water of any temperature below body temp would immediately change us back into our cursed forms." Clenching his hands tightly, he tilted his head back to look upwards, not noticing that in his exuberance, he had broken his chopsticks. "What crime have I done against the Kamis to deserve an ungrateful and useless son as Ranma?" Tears poured from his eyes at the injustice of it all.

All around Japan and a few places in China, there was a loud chorus of sneezing.

"Akane, please sit down and finish your meal." Kasumi directed, disappointed at her sister's delusion, they were coming more and more frequently.

"But the pervert!" Akane insisted, scanning the room for any place that 'it' could have been hiding.

"I ordered him to the dojo." Genma offered idly, trading Akane's chopsticks for his own, she wasn't going to need them anytime soon. The girl seemed to levitate and zoom off around the corner into the yard, heading off to deliver righteous justice.

"Your daughter is practically the epitome of martial artist, Soun. I wish my son would be something like her." Genma commented as he also took food from Akane's plate. What she didn't finish, he'd be more than happy to finish for her.

The sound of a nail be hammered into something repeatedly came from the dojo soon afterwards.

Soun, Kasumi, and Nabiki all cringed at the sound of inhuman cruelty being delivered to Ranma.

Placing the chopsticks on his plate and offering thanks that his stomach was full, he smiled lovingly to Kasumi. "Your meal was excellent, Kasumi. I have tasted many meals before, but nothing can come close to this one."

Bowing to the compliment, Kasumi gave him the best smile she could, which wasn't much considering. "Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Saotome." She spoke quietly.

"Now if you'll excuse me," Genma said as he stood slowly, "I have to educate my son about following directions his betters give him." Genma popped his knuckles in a menacing manner before walking in the direction of the hammering sound that was still going on.

Nabiki placed her chopsticks down before her, too ill to continue to eat. "That's your friend, Daddy?" Soun didn't feel like eating any more as well, laying his chopsticks down slowly so as not to show his unease.

"I never imagined he'd be anything like he is." Soun muttered softly, still loud enough to be heard over the hammering, and now added blows of the father.

"Must he stay here, Father?" Kasumi asked, getting a surprised look from Nabiki and a shocked one from Soun.

Soun gnawed at his lower lip as he held his chin in one hand, wondering what he should do. It was obvious to him that his friend had become power hungry to the point of abuse. The sounds alone from the dojo were all the evidence he needed of that. Still, he wanted to honor the friend of his memory, so he couldn't just dismiss them both, could he?

"I think we should have a look at this son of his." Soun said decidedly as he got to his feet. "If either of you decide that you don't want to try to be with him, then I will annul the engagement immediately."

"He turns into a girl, what's there to think about?" Nabiki asked as she stood up and followed her father to the dojo. The thought of being with another woman wasn't all that bad, it was the fact that if you were seen with someone who could change their gender on the fly, you were guilty by association. Not good for the aspiring Corporate Assassin.

They opened the door to the dojo and immediately had to duck out of the way of a barbell being thrown through where the door would have been had it still been closed. Looking inside, they could only stand in amazement as the girl Ranma twisted and turned in the air, fending off the blows from her father at the same time as bending in unnatural ways out of the way of the mallet Akane wielded with one hand.

Spinning in the air as she pushed off the kick that came at her from below, she vaulted over the near decapitating swing of Akane as she kicked off the girls head, pushing her into Genma's arms as Ranma fled to the other side of the dojo. For a moment, old man and young girl struggled to untangle themselves from each other, giving Ranma time to breathe before they freed themselves and came at her again.

The fear etched into Ranma's face spoke volumes as she watched Akane and Genma come at her from different sides once again, trying to pin her between two separate assaults at once. Even to Soun's eyes, the attacks were sloppy and ill thrown. With the incredible dexterity Ranma was using, it was impossible to imagine how this fight could have lasted as long as it had.

Forced into a corner, Ranma's eyes flickered from the girl to his father and back again, unsure who would try to hurt her first.

She didn't want to be hurt anymore, yet the pain was always there. It was behind her eyes, along her skin, even in her sleep they clawed and bit and cried out to her. Ranma just wanted to run away from her life and never come back.

Akane thought the cornered pervert had finally no place left to run and came at him, mallet raised. There was no place for him to run and only divine justice of the blunt kind to be delivered. Kasumi turned her face, not wanting to see another victim of Akane's Wrath. The sound of a head being slammed into its own body violently didn't come, but the hollow thump of a blunt object hitting the ground ridiculously lighter than an Akane strike did, causing her to look up.

Four luminescent blades of energy seemed to have sprung up on the back of the red headed girl's hand, bright blue and blazing with light. Tears of fear ran rivers down the dirt encrusted face of Ranma who had no resort but to defend herself. The look on Akane's face was worth its weight in gold, but Nabiki would settle for the few yen she could get as a picture of it would make her some money. She pulled out the mini camera she wore on her at all times.

She managed to get a snap of it before Genma obscured her view. Grabbing hold of the wrist above where the energy blades had come from, he held the arm in place as he punched with his full weight behind him into the face of his son. Her knees buckled and she struggled for just a second before three more punches came down into her from above and drove her to her knees.

Ranma looked upwards, pitifully in her father's face before the kick caught her in the temple and bounced her off the wall before she fell face forward into the floor. "Ungrateful son." Genma spat onto her back before turning around and walking away from her.

"Mallet-sama?" Akane croaked as she picked up the head of her mallet in trembling hands, unable to believe that her Kami had been destroyed by that pervert. Gripping the head tightly in her hands, she reared back and slammed the head as hard as she could into the back of Ranma's unconscious head with a frightening growl.

"AKANE!" Kasumi was in the dojo and running passed the unconcerned Genma as she went over to Ranma.

Soun could only look up at his friend, unbelieving of the violence he had just watched being delivered to an undeserving Ranma. Genma looked dumbly down into his friend's face, as if unknowing why he would be looking at him with that look. Genma looked down at his old friend with a look that spoke of unconcern for what he had just done. Shrugging his shoulders, he walked by his friend and headed into the house.

"Serves the pervert right." Akane sniffed as she took handle and head in hand before heading out of the dojo and after Genma. Kasumi had turned Ranma over onto her back, checking to make sure the boy turned girl wasn't any more hurt than she seemed, though the previous bruises made that all but impossible.

Waiting until akane left the dojo, Soun and Nabiki walked in and stood over a kneeling Kasumi and unconscious Ranma. Kasumi was crying, something he had only seen her do one other time. Nabiki looked like she was going to be physically sick at any moment, the brutality had been worse than anything she had heard of and the bruising was making her stomach flop over on itself.

"I'm calling the engagement off." Soun hoarsely whispered. He couldn't believe his one time friend had become such a monster.

"You mustn't, Father.' Kasumi croaked through her sobs as she fought to gain control of herself again.

Nabiki looked strangely at her sister. "You can't actually be considering taking on the engagement, are you Kasumi?"

Kasumi shook her head. "It's not the engagement I'm thinking about." She looked down at the girl in her lap as she tried to brush away the fallen tears from the redhead's face. "What would Mr. Saotome do to him if he found out that the engagement was called off?"

Both Nabiki and Soun cringed at the thought. If the beating they had just seen was about not following directions, what would Genma do to him if the engagement was broken? He needed to find that letter from Nodoka and see if he could get her to come as soon as she could. The only thing that might save Ranma's life would be his mother's wrath on his father's head.

"Kasumi, do what you can for him." Kasumi nodded without turning her face from the unconscious girl. "Nabiki, show my 'friend' the spare bedroom. Don't give him any suspicion that you mean him any harm or intend on getting back at him. I don't trust him any further than I can throw him at this point." He said the word friend with as much acid as he could, there was no way in hell that person running around in his house was Genma Saotome, his one time friend and confidant. "I need to find something."

Both Nabiki and Soun left Kasumi and Ranma in the dojo as the night came. The light from the house came through the few windows in the eaves and through the doorway, the only illumination in the building. Unable to hold back the tears any longer, Kasumi asked the unconscious form, "What has he done to you?"

* * *

**Thanks and praise be onto Amaranius for noting and spotting some grammatical errors and paragraphs that didn't flow right. For your dedication and hard work, you are awarded with this here chocolate pudding pie with oreo crust. May you eat well, and fornicate often. Thanks be onto those that have posted, who I have returned responses to (I think everyone) and hope that your criticism keeps me on me toes. I was expecting some flames out of this for the dark entrance and beat down, but hey, work with what you get, I always say.**


	2. The Cook that Kills or Shopping Pains

**Ok, I'm doing something wrong here. I started off with a dark entrance, showed the hero getting the life beat out of him without even the briefest of defenses, only dodging and whatnot. Even the tried and true head smashing of one schtick mallet. What does it take to get flamed around here?!?**

**Disclaimer: To Takahashi Rumiko-sama we pray for forgiveness. Amen.**

**G.B.: I swear this chapter will be lighter than the last one, but there will be one brief fight scene. And Genma Gets His, I Swear! **

* * *

That night in the Tendo household, only one person slept well underneath its roof. Soun Tendo had been unable to find that letter long since sent to him by Nodoka Saotome but hoped to Kami that he would be able to find it in the morning before the Nerima Council met. Being a high ranking member on the council meant you didn't miss those meetings.

Kasumi couldn't sleep at all, tossing and turning in her bed, she did everything she could possibly think of to relax, but knowing that the man who had brutalized his son turned girl was sleeping nearby left her ill at ease. She was also worried about her other guest, but there wasn't anything she could do about that. Ranma would have to recover on his own, at least till the morning.

Nabiki's dreams were troubled, but she did at least sleep. Her dreams of the loss of her mother, and the pain she had went through to make ends meet, nearly having to do 'things' that were best left unsaid and undone caused her to turn over and over in her sleep. She had managed to hold on to the one piece of dignity she had left, but it had been a narrow thing on many occasions, too many for her liking.

Akane's dreams were troubled for a reason. Her Kami, Mallet-sama, had been defeated by the very thing it was meant to beat into sticky paste. She sniffled in her sleep and clutched ever tighter to her developing chest the stick that had been the handle of her mighty weapon. "Mallet-sama…" she muttered, her dreams continuing.

In the guest bedroom, Genma Saotome slept the sleep of the dead.

The dojo was another matter altogether. Even in his sleep deprived mind, Ranma Saotome could find no peace. They were there, waiting for him. They were never too far from him, it was why he was who he was today.

The eyes staring at him from the darkness, the smell of things his mind didn't want to comprehend, making them ten times worse than what they were. The sounds of fur and claws as they moved in the darkness and the soft growls of hunger that wanted to eat him alive. It would be a moment longer, they never waited long when they knew he was there with them.

The claws sank into his arms first, ripping at his gi and his pants to get at the food that was tied to his body. When it didn't come away with their first efforts they ate it from him, sometimes eating him along with it. Fresh rips of skin peeled away under tooth and nail from all over him, thanking some merciful Kami that he was at least on his stomach and his sensitive male parts could not be gotten to easily.

Then they came for his face, the pink lips that looked like food and the eyes that gleamed with tears as they poured out in a torrent. His ears were pierced but thankfully held as he shook his head violently back and forth, trying to get them off of him before he would lose his ears. His fingers were next, fleshy bits of meat and bone that they could chew on with impunity. He couldn't hide his hands from them, they were bound behind his back and no amount of struggling was going to remove them.

He screamed. There wasn't anything else he could do but scream, yet all it did was make them bite harder, they then yowled louder to his face as they ripped him into a bloody ruin. His pants were clawed to ribbons even as he lost control of his body. Fear washed all through him in wave after terrible wave while they ate at his body, his mind, his very soul.

Something touched his head.

He reacted in fear far faster than the human body has a right to move, his hand slashing up through the cover that had been placed over him and at what had touched him. There was a gasp of shock, a scream of fright and a hand tightly gripping his wrist, preventing him from finishing his slash at whatever had touched him.

His eyes snapped open as he realized he wasn't in the pit anymore, but somewhere else. He looked around at what was going on, what he was doing, where he was at, and why his fear wasn't the only one he was smelling. His eyes locked onto a dark eyed woman, the same one that had walked him from the house and away from his otou-san. He looked over her shoulder to another girl he had briefly seen in the house, the one with short brown hair and dark eyes, but younger than the woman before him.

He turned his head to what was holding him and saw a tanned man in a brown gi straining to hold back Ranma's hand. Sweat was pouring off of his brow as he strained as hard as he could to keep him back from the older woman kneeling before him. His arm went slack under the gaze of the man, knowing he was going to be beat again. He had done something wrong, he knew it, he wasn't beaten unless he had done something wrong again.

Unrealized to Ranma, when he relaxed his arms, the blue claws on the back his hands snuffed out as if a candle guttering under a hurricane's frenzy.

Soun sighed greatly and released the wrist he had managed to grab hold of before it could rip his eldest daughter's head from her shoulders. "Are you alright, Kasumi?" he asked, trying to get some feeling back into his fingers and wrist.

She nodded weakly, the fear staining her eyes receding back from where it came at the defeated look on Ranma's face. Her well honed motherly instincts had her reach out to the poor boy cursed girl and pull her head up into her lap, stroking the red hair to try and calm her of the fear that had washed over her, causing her to shriek so loudly.

"What the hell is wrong with him, Daddy?" Nabiki stared in pity mixed with a revulsion for what the boy had become.

How could Soun answer that? He could honestly say that there wasn't anything in his own life that could have made him like what the boy was, although losing his wife had been a grief he had tried to get past as best he could. There was nothing he could say to even begin to describe what Ranma must have seen on his training journey to do this to him, and all while he was so young.

"Nabiki." His voice was hollow, but his resolution was firm. "I want you to use your network tomorrow. Track down his mother, I'll give you as much information as I can to help your search."

"What about school, Daddy?" She wouldn't get anything done if she had to spend half of the day locked away learning about everything but business.

"You're sick." Soun said as he stood up and looked her firmly in the eye. "You're all sick until his mother can be found."

"Father?" Both Nabiki and Soun looked down at her. "He needs a bath in the worst way. I don't think I can move him on my own and even then, I doubt he would wash himself."

Soun eyed his daughter before considering the girl in her lap. Nodding to himself, he picked up the girl into his arms. "Bathing suits, both of you. I don't want any of you alone with him at any point in time, who knows what will make him snap and try to attack. Better to have help than to be caught off guard."

Nabiki cringed at the thought of handling that person, but there wasn't much she could do about it. She wasn't about to leave her sister alone with that unstable kid. Kasumi picked herself up and smiled lightly to her father before following Nabiki out of the dojo and toward the house.

Soun looked down at the unresponsive girl in his arms, eyes that reflected nothing back but misery.

* * *

Four in the morning is a hell of a time to be getting a bath, unless one is seriously drunk, intimate with another, or is an Otaku who sits at their computer all night long writing fan fiction's that make animated characters lives hell.

The fact that they are heading to the bath in bathing suits just adds a bit more weirdness to the mix. When it comes to the Tendo Dojo, however, weirdness is nearly commonplace. Nabiki had opted for wearing the clothes she had on yesterday, yellow tank top and jean shorts, so she was the first to reach the shower. Her sister arrived not long after her in a one piece bathing suit that would give fan boys nose bleeds simply thinking about it.

Soun eyed both of his daughters with a bit of disapproval, not liking the fact that his two daughters were about to bathe a person almost old enough to be considered an adult by most standards in clothing that was as form fitting as they were wearing, but what can you do?

"I set him down in the bathing room on one of the stools so you didn't have to walk him in afterwards." Soun spoke quietly to his daughters, allowing at least some people to sleep.

"Thank you, father. We'll handle the rest." Kasumi gave an appreciative bow to him before walking into the bathing area, Nabiki walking in behind her. Taking the Occupied sign from one of the baskets, she hung it on the outside doorway before closing the doors. Before Soun could walk too far off, the doors slid open once more. "Father, if it's not too much trouble, could you manage to get him an extra pair of clothing? Their packs were left at the door of the dojo."

Having nothing better to do until the sun rose, he went downstairs to look for the packs. It might even lead to some answers as to why the kid was so messed up.

"This is a really bad idea." Nabiki muttered as she opened to adjoining doorway that lead into the actual bathing area. Large enough to accommodate 20 people standing elbow to elbow, the bathing room was built to relax and cleanse oneself of all problems, washing it all away.

"Now Nabiki, I want you to realize that although we're here to help wash him, he is a boy." Kasumi spoke in an instructive manner. "There are going to be some minor differences with his body that you might not be accustomed to, so if you feel nervous about touching him, then that's perfectly alright."

Nabiki gave her sister a critical look before looking at the back of the sitting Ranma and looking back at her sister. "I'm seventeen years old, Kasumi. I think I know what a boy looks like, and that ain't it."

Kasumi gave her sister a blinding innocent smile. "Of course not, it is his cursed form after all." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world before turning and walking over to Ranma.

Nabiki looked at the roof of the bathing room as if asking Kami why her sister seemed to act like the biggest airhead at times.

Coming over to assist her sister, she stood behind Ranma while Kasumi stood in front. "Pants or shirt first?" Nabiki asked to Kasumi. She wasn't leading this dance, and she wanted no part of what hell this might start up next.

"Pants first." Kasumi said as she eyes the catatonic Ranma. "Let me find the bindings first before we try to lift him up." She kneeled in front of her, feeling along the line of her pants carefully for the draw strings before finding a knotted section of torn lace. Assuming that this might be the tie she was looking for, she worked it carefully with her fingers and nails until the knot came free.

Nodding to Nabiki, her younger sister managed to get the dead weight of Ranma up enough to remove the pants. Depending on your point of view would amount to either relief or disgust that Ranma was not wearing any undergarments under his pants. Helping Kasumi with the bindings on the shirt, they managed to get enough of the ropes free to loosen up the shirt to slide overtop of the well endowed cursed form.

The moment Nabiki removed and tossed the dirt encrusted fabric, she took one look at her back and gagged in revulsion, bringing Kasumi around to see for herself. To say his back was scarred was to say that Godzilla liked to come to Tokyo just for the red light district. His skin was a patchwork of pasty colored scars that ran from the base of his neck al the way down and disappeared past his tailbone. There weren't that many scars on the front of his body, but there had been a lot of yellow, fading bruises. Many of the scars reminded her of something, but she couldn't place her finger on what they reminded her of.

"If you don't want to go on, Nabiki, I fully understand." Kasumi offered to her sister, who was fighting to get her gag reflex under check.

She shook her head violently, putting her hand to her mouth. "I'll clean the front, I can't look at that." She wobbled on weak knees around to the front of Ranma, kneeling down next to the faucet to fill the small wash basin with water.

Kasumi's hands traced line after clawed line of Ranma's back, wondering how much of a patchwork his body really was. There were so many scars on top of scars that she didn't want to believe possible. Nabiki called to her and nudged her arm, handing her the basin of warm water as she readied the shampoo and soap they were going to need. She wondered what the boy underneath would look like as she gradually poured the water over her.

Nabiki and Kasumi would both agree later on that watching Ranma changing back to his birth form was something that they would never get used to, though not in the bad sense. All the proportions stretched out as the water poured over him, legs lengthening and shoulders widening, hair melting from a deep red hue to a dark black, the barest traces of muscle on the female form turning into a man of nearly washboard abs and pectorals of steel. This was no boy that they had thought would be here, but a man who was coming into his prime.

Nabiki's eyes strayed, forgetting the mess of a person that was sitting before her and admiring the well muscled, but not overly bulging, physique that was sitting in front of herself. Her view lingered on the well toned stomach in front of her and over the well formed thigh muscled before dipping far south of the border.

"Oh My…"

Kasumi looked over the firm shoulder of the man that was sitting in front of her and down at her sister in confusion. That wasn't a typical comment that a normal Nabiki Tendo would say at any given time, so why would she…?

Her eyes followed the line of Nabiki's and found the culprit.

"Oh My!"

* * *

Rooting through the backpacks had been a lesson in futility. He knew that Genma had been less than a caring parent, but finding nothing but training implements, weights, and more than a few heavy rocks had been crazy to begin with. Getting the sinking feeling that the other pack would actually be worse than what he had found so far, he opened it with some trepidation.

He pulled out a few tomes and scrolls of martial arts tutorials, one called the lion's cub that sent a dread into his stomach before he laid them aside and looked further into the pack. His stomach ate its way out of his feet and into the earth below at what he found. More weights, far heavier than what was in the first pack were stitched into the insides of the pack, on top of the lead weights and dross metals sitting in the bottom. No wonder he had such a hard time even sitting the pack upright for him to open it, yet the boy in his girl form had carried both of them around on his back as if they had been nothing to him.

How strong was that kid?!?

He got the sudden feeling that if he had truly wanted to, there would have been no stopping Ranma from killing Kasumi.

It was evident that the bags held nothing else but the training guides and the weights. Picking up the training guides, he walked back into the room to look them over carefully as he sat at the dining room table. The Lion's Cub technique was exactly what he was afraid of, a technique that threw its young off a cliff to toughen them up. There was even one in there about teaching your child how to hold your breath underwater and learning to swim with lead weights among other things.

With each scroll and book he opened and read, he became more and more sure of what he had only assumed but now knew for a fact. Genma Saotome was an idiot.

The last book was probably the only one that didn't sound dangerous, which by all rights should have set five alarm fire bells off all over the district seeing as how it was in Genma's pack with the rest of those idiotic techniques. "Neko-ken?" Soun wondered as he thumbed through the book slowly, reading everything word for word.

When it got to the part of taking the trainee and wrapping them in fish products, that's where he nearly got physically ill. He read the book front to back once just to get a cursory understanding of what the technique entailed, then read it a second time in disbelief, before reading it very slowly a third time. The sound of water brought his attention around and made him look toward the bathing room on the second floor as if he could see through the roof of the dining room and into the blood strewn furo where his baby girls must have been massacred by now.

Rushing upwards as fast as he could, unmindful that he was causing a racket that sounded like a professional sumo match in full drunken swing, he threw the bathing room door open and nearly ripped the second door off its rail. No blood was on the floors or the wall, no body parts of his precious daughters were dismembered and leaking into the drain in the middle of the room, in fact, the furo didn't seem to look any different to him at all, except for his two daughters helping young Saotome into the large furo.

"Father? Is something wrong?" Kasumi asked, concern etched into her face while Nabiki continued to eye Ranma.

Seeing his precious daughters alright did wonders for his heart and he thanked Kami-sama for whatever kept the poor kid from snapping on them. "No, it's nothing." Soun sputtered, trying to calm his racing heart.

"Daddy?" Soun's eyes nearly fell out of his head as he whirled around, closing the bathing area in one motion. Akane rubbed her bleary eyes while still holding the handle to her now useless mallet. "Is everything o.k.?"

"Everything's fine, princess." Soun was sweating bullets. He did not need Akane going on a malleting rampage with the unstable Ranma. "Kasumi just slipped is all, she may need help in the kitchen this morning."

The gleam that suddenly filled the youngest Tendo's eyes made his stomach wince in pain at the concoction of food she was going to be making for them. Breakfast out of the house would be a great idea, but they'd have to survive Akane's cooking first. The stuff she normally made could kill large predatorial lizards on contact if she managed to spill anything.

"Don't spend all your time in the kitchen today, Akane, you do have school afterwards." He called after his enthusiastic daughter as she rushed downstairs to begin her day as the 'happy homemaker'.

Nabiki slid the door open with a quivering eyebrow and a dirty look leveled at him. "We don't deserve that kind of punishment, Daddy." Nabiki nearly spat.

"What I read just a few minutes ago is worth the pain." Soun muttered darkly to his middle daughter, casting an eye to the still comatic boy. "Once she's gone, we'll go out for something that we all can eat, and something to settle our stomachs after she is done feeding us."

Kasumi gave her father a look that would make you want to fall to your knees and beg for forgiveness as her lips quivered in barely contained misery. "I'm sorry about this, Kasumi. I'll clean the kitchen up after her so you won't have to work so hard doing everything. I swear."

Sniffling in resignation, she nodded to her father before turning and focusing on Ranma. At least with this mess, she had some hope of cleaning. _"My poor kitchen…"_ she thought sadly.

* * *

Genma Saotome woke to the smell of something melting. He looked around the room, wondering what his useless spawn of a child had managed to screw up for him this time, but found that he was not at any campsite or even out in the wilderness. Scratching his head, he wondered who's house he had broken into last and why he was alone? Normally the boy wouldn't try to run off, the last time had earned him a bear trap to the leg for the entire night.

Looking out the window, he stretched and popped his back as he limbered up from his rest. Might as well go find out where he was at and see what he could steal today, since he was already here. He opened the doorway and was nearly run down by a girl with a brown haired bowl cut as she headed for the bathroom at the far end of the hallway. The sound of a sink being turned on to full and the gagging sound a good indication to him that another girl was trying to keep her weight down after a spree of bingeing.

Not understanding why women wasted perfectly good food like that, he headed for the stairs, reading the signs as he walked down the hallway. The three separate wooden signs located on separate doorways indicated that there were at least two more girls in the house that he would have to worry about. The one behind him still trying to purge her body of those oh so annoying pounds by regurgitating them obviously didn't know how good she had it and would be one less person to deal with when it came down to stealing from the rich and giving to his stomach.

As he walked down the stairs, he began to feel like he should know this place more and more as he walked through the foyer and toward what may have been or may not have been the smell of breakfast. Walking into the dining room, he realized why the place was so familiar as he noticed Soun staring at his food before him.

"Good morning, Soun, old buddy." Genma said as he flew from the hallway and sat in beside his long time friend.

"Saotome," Soun couldn't help but hesitate before he could continue, "my old friend. You're just in time for breakfast." Just trying to say that with a straight face had been like eating Akane's current 'success'. Hard if not impossible to swallow without wincing.

"Don't mind if I do." Genma went to reach for the meal with his chopsticks and then his eyes caught hold of it. In the bowl that would have been the morning miso soup was something of the consistency of runny creamy peanut butter, and if you dared to get close enough, kinda smelled like peanut butter as well. The small fish, if fish they had ever been, were glowing with a faint trace of plaid colors.

Not to be deterred, Genma turned to the bowl of rice only to see the rice itself was moving under its own power, a sound coming from the rice as if they were alive and trying to escape under their own internal energies. Saotome looked at his best friend with mild surprise and disbelief.

Soun Tendo's face could have sold gold to a man in the deserts of the middle east who was dying from thirst. The sincere and heartfelt smile on his face, combined with the aura of companionship and trust that was pouring off of him would have given diabetes to children if it came any sweeter. It also helped that all of his food seemed to have gone missing from his plate and bowl. "Is something wrong, old friend? You looked skeptical."

"Is this really food, Tendo?" he pointed down at the bowl in front of him, wondering if this was some trick like the master used to pull on them.

"Well, if you're not hungry, I'll simply tell Kasumi that…" he didn't get any further as Genma bolted everything on his plate, remembering the eye watering food that he had eaten last night. If Kasumi cooked this, no matter what it looked like, it had to be good, right?

The moment the watery tan stuff hit his tongue, Akane came walking out of the kitchen, burnt and frayed apron still smoking from a few charred spots. The smile on her face was that of the happiest person on the face of the planet. "I'm so glad you let me cook this morning, daddy. It's too bad that Kasumi couldn't come down and help me, but I think I did a great job, didn't I?"

"That you did, Akane." Soun grinned brightly, sweat drop clearly evident on his head. "You'd best hurry, or you'll be late to school."

"Thanks, daddy." Akane said as she bent over and kissed his cheek with loving adoration. No one could make her feel better than her own daddy. She removed the burnt remains of the apron and tossed it back into the kitchen before heading for the door.

"Don't forget to take the extras to the homeless shelter, Akane dear." He called out to her as she headed for the door. "Y'know those poor starving people need to need as much as we do, and your cooking should be just the thing they need to get their morning started."

"Those ingrates don't take my food anymore, daddy. You know that." She huffed as she walked to the door, but stopped as if a light bulb had managed to actually light up. "If bum's won't eat my food, then I should give it to the animal shelter. Dogs and kitties deserve to eat better than those other perverts."

Remember, kids. Donate to your local Humane Society today, or Akane Tendo will euthanize them all with her cooking!

Taking the remains of her 'food' with her, she headed off to school.

Saotome had not moved from where he had frozen, the brown stuff that was supposed to be soup congealing on his tongue and refusing to fall out of his mouth. Soun gave him a passive glance to see if he had died from massive intake of poison or if something in his body had managed to save his hide from a lethal overdose. Sighing to himself, he took hold of his friend under the arms and dragged him out through the waste disposal site of a kitchen and out the back door to the garbage, propping him up against one of the cans.

"Always my turn to take the garbage out." He muttered to himself as he surveyed what was left of the kitchen before the tears began to fall.

* * *

"I don't know what was going through his head this morning, letting Akane cook breakfast." Nabiki muttered darkly as she pulled another stick of gum out and put it in her mouth, chewing furiously. She was going through half a pack of spearmint flavored gum and the taste of breakfast still wasn't gone.

Not even brushing, flossing, and that industrial size bottle of mouthwash had helped.

"By the way, Kasumi. We're going to need more mouthwash when we get home."

"Wasn't that a new bottle we bought yesterday, Nabiki?" Kasumi asked, still trying to hold the tears back at the thought of her poor kitchen.

Kasumi Tendo winced at the thought of her poor decimated and defiled kitchen after one 30 minute session with Akane Tendo and almost lost the bout to grief. _"At least daddy said he was going to clean up the kitchen for me."_ She thought in a dispirited fashion.

She held Ranma's hand in hers, they had to borrow one of Soun's old martial arts gi's so that Ranma had something other to wear than those rags that were his clothes. What his father had put his own son through was criminal in most countries, and made her more upset than normal. She was going to have to have a stern talking to with him about how he had raised his son. She might even have to put her foot down.

She just hoped that she wouldn't have to curse in front of him. Everyone seemed to laugh when she tried to curse.

Ranma, for all intents and purposes, was a walking doll. He wouldn't leave the Tendo house without someone taking hold of the leash that was a part of the collar around his neck. Working the leash down through his sleeve and into his hand, they kept the disturbing sight from the public eye for the most part. As long as she continued to hold hands with him, no one would be the wiser.

After stopping off to put something in their stomachs that wouldn't kill them, Kasumi had brought them to her local area mall for clothing, unfortunately since money was tight, that meant shopping at a thrift store for poor Ranma. Still, everything may have been of a cheaper material than your average clothing, but you could still find some good deals for what you needed.

Before she could go into the thrift shop with Ranma, Nabiki tapped her on the shoulder. Turning to look at her sister with a happy go lucky smile in place, Nabiki thumbed over her shoulder. "I need to talk to him, I'll be inside in a second."

Kasumi looked over at what appeared to be a middle aged man running a shop of small watches and mechanical toys. She had noticed the man before, but had never really gone in for some of the things that he sold, being of the young toddler to five year old bracket toys. Nodding to Nabiki, she guided Ranma along with her inside.

"Ms. Tendo, welcome back to my humble shop." A man of middling years approached, arms raised above his head as he practically pranced across the floors to her.

She gave him a one armed hug as best as she could as he wrapped his own arms around her, squeezing her as tightly as he could. "Thank you for welcoming me back, Kirabiyaka-san."

"Oh, stop." He waved his hand once shortly in front of himself as he turned his face away and blushed. "I told you to call me Kirabi-chan. You don't have to be so formal, hime-chan." Near his mid forties with hair that was as bleached as you can possibly imagine, his clothing screamed Technicolor Nightmare in pastels and slacks that looked almost made of leather, but not quite. "Who's your cute boyfriend?" he bit down on his finger as he swayed from side to side in anticipation of the gossip.

Kasumi blushed lightly. "He's a guest staying at my house. His name is Ranma Saotome."

Leaning up against Kasumi's side, he loudly whispered. "He's cute in a rugged kind of way." The shiver that ran through his body made Kasumi sweatdrop.

"I was hoping you could find some clothes for him. He doesn't have anything left worth wearing and I need a few shirts and pants for him." Kasumi asked, hoping that he wouldn't turn this into a fashion show for her. She had enough of those from some of the shop boys who still pined for her.

"Business or pleasure?" the smile and purr when he said that last word practically made her shiver at what the man actually meant.

"Martial artist." Kasumi said, getting a roll of eyes from Kirabiyaka.

"Oh darn." He stomped his foot as if upset. "I was hoping it wasn't one of those serious types again."

"Actually, if you have anything in Chinese cheongsam and fitting pants, those will be fine." Kasumi said, patting his hand with her other one. "He was very partial to the one he came in, but it literally fell off of him.

Kirabiyaka walked slowly around Ranma, Kasumi stepping back to let the Master do his work. He eyed Ranma's shoulders and gave his legs a long look as he played with his lip, keeping his right arm tight against his body as he measured with his mind. Kasumi watched, knowing that Kirabiyaka was the best for a reason, even though he ran a low priced store.

Nabiki burst into the store, nearly running over Kirabiyaka in her haste as she grabbed hold of Kasumi and pulled her into the back of the store with her, hiding them amongst the rows of clothes. "Nabiki?" Kasumi asked, only to have her younger sister grip her mouth and raise a finger to her own.

Two very big, very well dressed men rushed into the building, looking around for something intently. The left man nudged his partner in the elbow and gestured to Ranma who had refused to move from where he stood, even when Kirabiyaka had run behind the counter and disappeared.

The men rushed Ranma, grabbing him by his shoulder and spinning him to face them. "Where the hell is she?!" The man shouted in Ranma's face. Ranma didn't react so he got a fist to his chin to help him remember to talk. "Where the hell is she, ronin?!"

Kasumi tried to pull herself free from Nabiki, only to have Nabiki pull her to the ground and pin her there. She struggled harder when they threw Ranma bodily onto the ground and kicked him a few times in the ribs.

"Is there-" Kirabiyaka froze the moment they pulled their guns and put them under his nose.

"You have one chance to live, pretty boy." The left one sneered, keeping his foot planted in the boy's chest. "Where did the girl in the bowl cut hairdo go in here?"

Ranma's nose twitched.

"There hasn't-" the bullet passed close enough to rip out a patch of hair next to his ear.

Ranma's nose flared.

"Speak up." The right man sneered. "I couldn't hear you."

Ranma's eyes narrowed sharply.

The sound of the hammer being drawn back on both guns sent a cold chill into Kasumi's gut.

Ranma inhaled deeply, loud enough to draw the attention of the men standing over him. They made to move their guns to point at him, and the fight was over.

Ranma's legs kicked hard into the back of the man that stood on him, sending the man flying forward and into a rack of clothing ten feet away. Using the snapping motion of his legs kicking back underneath him, he was up and behind the second man before he could blink. The man continued to turn, trying to get a bead on Ranma before he moved again.

The backhand broke his jaw before he had time to see the punch, spinning him on his feet and then into the air before he fell to the ground. He was unconscious before he hit, but Ranma made sure, stomping his foot into the man's sternum.

He first man tried to get to his feet instead of turning over and shooting, and it cost him. Spinning on his heels, he leveled his gun and fired two rounds off before realizing that no one was there anymore and he was blowing holes in the glass front of the store. The foot that struck him from above surprised him as it sent him stumbling back only to have another kick greet his chin from underneath, bouncing him off the roof and back into the floor.

The only sound that came to the now silent store were the murmurs from outside the building and the falling plaster of the roof that was a good ten feet above the showroom floor. Kasumi pushed Nabiki hard off of her and got to her feet, rushing over to Ranma. She pulled up short as Ranma spun to face her, glaring up into her face from the near crouch he was in, not seeing Kasumi anymore, but a possible enemy.

Offering her hand to Ranma carefully, she held it out to him to take, or do with as he wanted. The low feral growl that rose up in his voice made her shiver in fear, but she refused to remove her hand from in front of him. Ranma leaned forward carefully, slowly inching toward her hand as his nose twitched, scenting the air carefully.

His eyes flickered for a moment, his face switching from outright hostility to confusion for just a moment. He scented again closer to her hand, and his eyes seemed to dull over as he stood slowly, staring vacantly at nothing once again. She reached carefully for his hand, taking hold of it lightly before gripping tightly on it.

"Kasumi, we need to go." Nabiki had passed her at some point, looking out of the broken doors down the streets on both sides. "These guys weren't alone, we need to get back to the house before the cops or their friends come."

Not wanting to know what kind of trouble her sister was in, she pulled Ranma after as she made her way for the door.

"Hime-chan!" Kirabiyaka called to her as he rushed from the back of his store to her, several garments in hand. "Take these with you, hime-chan, for your friend."

"Kirabi-chan, I can't." she started to say only to be cut off.

"He saved my life, hime-chan." Kirabiyaka smiled as he kissed her cheek. "Go now, while you can." He pushed them toward the door and out into the street, shooing them from his store and toward home, where they would be safe.

"Kasumi!" Nabiki shouted shrilly, making her sister pay attention instead of staring back into the thrift shop where her friend disappeared back into. Shaking her head, she pulled Ranma after her.

* * *

Wiping at his face, Soun couldn't believe the destruction one could leave behind in the kitchen. Several kitchen pots melted into paperweights, the floor pitted from whatever chemical Akane had managed to slop, and some unknown substance that was still defying gravity as it hung overhead on the ceiling.

He wasn't sure if it was safe to stand under it, but it was safer not to take his chances.

He had scrubbed, Kami above, he had scrubbed. Some of it was simply melted pots and pans and that was the easiest to get out when it came to the stove top. Somehow the stove still worked, the burners being cleaned and the traps underneath them washed over and over again until his hands had become prunes of pain.

When his tears had hit something that looks like mould that had taken on a life of its own, the thing shrieked before shriveling up and becoming just another burnt object. He had used his tears on many spots around the kitchen, aiding him in removing even more and weirder looking stuff that was still around. It was true, crying was very cleansing, especially when cleaning up after a toxic spill.

Soun looked to the ceiling where the thing was starting to produce what looked like a tentacle like appendage that hung down from the center of it. Now if he could only figure out how to cry upwards.

The sound of the front door slamming open and feet rushing into his house made him drop what he was doing and run to the foyer from the kitchen. Kasumi and Nabiki were breathing heavily, trying to catch their breaths while the young Saotome stared off into some other world, his breathing as calm as ever.

"What's wrong?" Soun said, eyeing Ranma as if he was the culprit.

Nabiki's head snapped up and she warily eyed her father before sighing deeply. "My debtors want their money back."

Sitting on the stairs that led up into the house, Kasumi placed a hand to her heaving chest, trying to regain a modicum of calm, though she didn't feel calm in the least.

Soun regarded his monetary genius of a daughter. "Do we have the money?" he asked, wondering why they looked to have been scared out of their minds. Maybe having Ranma stay wasn't such a great idea.

"Sure, if we sell everything we own, we might have enough to be servants for only a year to the local crime family." Nabiki winced, telling her father how deep in debt they really were.

His eyes bugged out of his head, looking at his middle daughter in shock and a little fright for their own futures.

"Oh, Nabiki, you didn't." Kasumi spoke softly in disappointment that made her sister wince.

"We didn't have a choice!" Nabiki shouted in desperation. "With Akane's pervert rampage, no one wanted to buy her pictures expect for that wacko, Kuno. You can only charge one person so much for photos before even they decide to go some place else." Nabiki sighed as her frustration bled away. "I wasn't about to ask you to pose for any pics, sis. You've sacrificed enough for us, your decency should stay your own."

Closing his mouth and taking a deep breath, he calmed himself and asked with reservation, "How much do we have left?" Soun didn't want to know, but sometimes knowing helped keep you bailing water out of a sinking ship if the land was near enough.

"The bank accounts are dry. We have just enough money in them to keep them open." Nabiki spoke bitterly. "Your money that's due in from your seat on the council will keep the house and dojo up and running on its own, but it won't buy food. Utilities and land tax is about all it covers." Nabiki mentally reviewed their dwindling cash for a second as she thought what to do next.

"I have about fifty thousand yen in my room, a fall back in case of anything that may occur otherwise, hospital or anything else we can't handle here by ourselves." She bit down on her thumb nail as she wondered how far she could stretch a yen before it snapped in her face.

"I have thirty thousand yen in my room." Kasumi looked to her sister, who gave her a reserved look before nodding.

"And that's not worrying about the collectors that nearly shot us down in the street today." Nabiki muttered unconsciously.

"YOU WERE SHOT AT?!?!?!?" Soun's flaming demon head attack sprung to life around him, though who it was focused on was in debate.

Nabiki thought to herself how she had really screwed up this time. Bad enough she had to associate with the local Yakuza, who were just getting their claws into the area, but to get her family involved. She wasn't sure if she'd ever live down this failure.

"I think we need to sit down in the living room." Soun suggested. "We might be able to come up with something." Nabiki sighed dejectedly but nodded to her father, whereas Kasumi stood up and tried to take Ranma's hand.

Ranma stepped back from her.

Soun and Nabiki were instantly on edge as Ranma moved back from Kasumi. The normally passive boy usually didn't do anything on his own unless he was guided to do something, this was a new trick. Kasumi gave Ranma a worried look and tried to take his hand again only to have the boy step away from her once more. Although his face remained blank, he was obviously avoiding the eldest daughter.

Masking the hurt look that flashed on her face, Kasumi clasped her hands before herself and walked away from him, leaving him standing in the foyer.

Nabiki and Soun passed an unreadable look between them before eyeing Ranma one last time. Keeping him in sight until they had walked by him, they headed for the dining room.

Ranma's eyes flickered after their retreating forms.

* * *

Akane had returned home from school, smiling almost as brightly as one of Kasumi's loving smiles. Her day had almost been ruined by the hentai horde that would await her at the gates, but she had used the fists of mighty rage to beat some sense into them. Kuno, Shooting Star of Furinkan High's kendo club, had fought only a little longer until she had managed to grab hold of his neck and squeeze the life out of him.

The school nurse said that he showed signs of asphyxiation, but that the lack of air didn't seem to harm the boy's brain in the least. He'd be back on his feet by tomorrow.

Woodshop had been where she had congregated to after school, and with a mighty offering of tree and root, the forges of the Kami had seen fit to bring back to life her Kami, mallet-sama.

Kuno had managed to revive at this point and found her finishing the last touches on mallet-sama when he burst into the room and tried to defeat her once again. Taking the fight out into the hallway, she called for righteous fury and smote the foul pervert to the hells of purgatory. She would have done it in the forge, but you don't hurt the ones you love.

She was humming to herself as she walked into the house, mallet cradled to her shoulder and book bag in hand as she walked through the doorway, calling out that she was home. Receiving a less than stellar answer from the dining room, she walked toward it and into a wake.

Everyone was gathered around the dinner table, including Kasumi who would normally be cooking a meal for them. Not that she wasn't a great cook and all, but Akane could cook just as good as her onee-san. Hell, she'd proven that just this morning.

That reminded her to make sure to make some more food for those poor animals. They looked so underfed.

"What's with the gloomy faces?" Akane asked, wondering who she knew that had recently died.

"We were just going over the books and found out that we're a bit shy on money." Nabiki spoke sadly, knowing it couldn't get any worse.

Akane looked around the house confused. So what if they were short on money? Money didn't buy you happiness, or sunshine, or trees that were meant for better things that standing around and shedding leaves. If anything, money was the root of all evil, that's why there were perverts in the world.

Didn't everyone know that perverts came from money?

Akane shrugged, she couldn't help them. If mallet-sama wasn't the answer, she didn't know what to tell them. "Is Mr. Saotome still here?" Akane called out as she walked into the kitchen only to realize that something had wrapped itself around her throat and pulled her upward toward the ceiling as she walked into the kitchen.

Soun's eye twitched from where he sat, unaware that his youngest daughter was in the middle of divine punishment.

"I'd take Akane to the pit fights in Kawasaki, but we'd forfeit everything again the moment she brought out that mallet of hers." Nabiki spoke aloud, receiving a harsh glare from her father. "Plus, the yakuza around here are tied with those in Kawasaki. We'd never leave the city in one piece."

Nabiki shook her head. "Funabashi would be the only place that would save our hides, but that's too much for our martial artist prodigy and her Kami."

"I will not have pit fighting daughters in my household." Soun breathed out in a rush, putting his foot down on this matter.

"Do you have any better ideas, daddy?" Nabiki snapped at her father, leveling him with a glare that would make Akane's meals proud as it tried to flay the flesh off of Soun.

The phone ringing in the foyer ended the conversation. Kasumi got to her feet and walked out into the foyer to answer the phone as calmly as she could while hoping for some miracle to occur to help them all out.

"Hello, Tendo residence." Kasumi answered with her best and sweetest voice.

"Nabiki Tendo, please." The voice on the other line didn't announce itself, but the female tone coming from it was one she had heard often, one of Nabiki's informants.

"One moment, please." Kasumi turned her eyes across the doorway leading to the front gate, only to notice that the door to the househad been left open. She walked over and closed it gently, calling to her sister. "Nabiki, it's for you." As she started to walk away from the front door, something in her went cold.

Nabiki walked by her, looking at her with a raised eyebrow as Kasumi peered around the foyer, as if something was amiss. Picking up the receiver, Nabiki spoke tersely, "Hello?"

Kasumi shook her head, it must have been nothing. She headed for the kitchen but only took two steps when she turned around again, the nagging in the back of her head saying to her that something was wrong. She looked back at her sister and the doorway itself, wondering what it could be.

"Do you have an address and phone number?" Nabiki said as she took a pad and pen out of the small tabletop the phone was on, writing some information down.

She shook her head, dispelling the voice and walked into the kitchen just as Akane managed to pull herself and whatever it was from the ceiling with a grunt before taking mallet in hand and smashing it into oblivion. Instead of a wet paste and sticky particles that normally accompany something of the wet kind being smashed by her mallet, the thing disintegrated into a fine red powder and blew out the door into the yard.

Cooking dinner became a somber affair for her. Her father had done an excellent job at cleaning the kitchen for her, not as spotless as she would normally do herself, but it was the thought that counted. She used the bare minimum of ingredients, knowing full well that she was going to have to stretch the food for as long as she could and still make it up to her standard of excellence. Still, she was troubled about something and she couldn't place her finger on it.

It wasn't until Nabiki came running down the stairs that what was bothering her became evident. "Kasumi, have you seen Ranma?" Nabiki asked as she stuck her head into the kitchen from the foyer.

That was who was missing from the foyer. He never went anywhere by himself, it was strange of him not to be still standing there, waiting for someone to take him away from the doorway.

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him since we came home today." Kasumi said as she stopped stirring the soup and looked to her sister in a concerned fashion.

Nabiki's faced darkened into a scowl. "That thief." She spat as she rushed into the dining room through the kitchen, Kasumi following on her footsteps. "Daddy, where is Mr. Saotome?" Nabiki asked harshly, doubt and accusation heavy in her voice.

Soun looked blankly up at his middle daughter. "I took him out back and placed him among the garbage cans. Why do you-" he didn't get to finish as Nabiki turned around quickly, nearly bumping into her sister before heading back through the kitchen and where the refuse waited for garbage pick up.

Genma sat exactly where Soun had put him at, in exactly the same position he had last froze up in, less of the brown stuff was now in his mouth, assumedly swallowed, but he was where her father had told her he would be at. She came back into the house, fuming with anger as she walked into the dining room.

"We're flat broke." Nabiki spat harder as she fell roughly to her seat at the table and slammed her hands on it. "I can't believe I didn't see this coming!"

Soun looked confusedly from Kasumi, who could only shrug her shoulders, before looking at Nabiki. "Couldn't see what coming? And I thought you had some money in your room?"

"Had is exactly right." Nabiki rubbed her temples as the reality of the situation sank in. "My room was raided, it was subtle, but it was definitely rifled through. All the money I had hidden in there is gone."

Kasumi looked shocked beyond belief and made to head for her own room.

"Don't bother, onee-chan, I checked your room as well." Nabiki said as she laid her head on the tabletop, feeling the need to cry building up in her. "You're more a creature of habit than anyone else I know of, so it was easy to see what had been gone through. I'd bet just as much money as what was lost that your flat broke as well."

Kasumi couldn't believe it. She had been robbed? In her own house? But who would do such a thing?

"Damn that Saotome." Nabiki muttered darkly, pounding her fist into the tabletop.

Soun and Kasumi both heard her, but they couldn't believe it. "But Saotome is-" he started, only to have Nabiki freeze him in place with a glare.

"Wrong Saotome, daddy." Nabiki sighed, lost deep in her heart and torturing herself for getting her family in this position. "I never would have imagined that he was faking it all this time. The guy should have been an actor."

Soun caught the mental clue first. "You think Ranma-"

"I don't think, daddy. I know." Nabiki spoke with a leaden voice. "No one's seen him since we came back, Akane would have pounded him into the dirt the moment she would have walked into the doorway and saw him standing there, but she didn't. It's safe to say that he found the money as she was coming home or even before that and ran off with it."

Soun didn't want to believe it. He had seemed like a broken child, one who couldn't do anything on his own, and yet the facts were incriminating. It also didn't help that his father was Genma.

Kasumi wouldn't believe it, she couldn't. She had looked into those eyes, seen the body underneath the clothing. Her heart told her that it was no lie what she saw, and nothing she heard otherwise would dissuade that. Rushing from the dining room to the foyer, she opened the front door to see the front gate standing wide open, as if the person who had entered or left didn't care if they were coming or going.

Standing in the doorway of her house, her heart breaking, Kasumi wondered where Ranma could have gone to.


	3. A Mother's Heart or Bathing Made Fun

**Well, I think I've done it this time. This may not be my best work, but then again, I'm not the best at what I do. Do note here that there is some minor swearing, I'm assuming that at some point in time you've all heard such foul language and I just want to apologize to you now if I'm about to offend your virgin eyes for such language.**

**Disclaimer: And here I do proclaim to thee, Ranma 1/2's not owned by me. Lawsuits on me would be a waste, just hit me with a heavy mace. (instead, that is)**

**G.B.: I don't understand the difference from lime, lemon, or even what waff means. Someone will have to explain the finer points at some point in time later. I think I grasp it enough to mention a brief lime like section near the bottom, but this is my belief only. I do know that near the end of this chapter is an Ecchi moment, though thankfully short. You're going to be exposed to it, but thankfully, it describes nothing specifically. Let your own mind fill in the blanks, you perverts.**

* * *

It took her two days to track accurate information down of a woman named Nodoka Saotome, due in part to having no money to grease a few palms, but she had managed to track her down to her house which was at the far edge of the Nerima district, almost in a whole different ward altogether. The phone number had been a little easier to get hold of once she had an address, operators really should start charging for good information like that. 

Soun had called her the moment he had a phone number, surprising the woman on the other end that he had even remembered her after the five years since the letter had been sent to him for any information he may have had about her wayward husband and her lost child. Telling her that her husband was at his house and recovering from a serious bout of deadly poison, he suggested to her to come immediately, not knowing if he would survive long. She swore to him that she would be there by the end of the day.

Soun didn't actually lie to her about the poison. Normally, people who eat Akane's cooking really did die, though it was more along the lines of instantaneous than the slow torture that Genma was going through. The only thing that Soun could imagine to be the reason that he was being punished this way was for all the sins that he had accumulated during his live.

Somehow, that did put a smile on his face.

By the time the sun was setting, the sound of the gate slamming open followed by the harsh rapping of a fist on their doorway announced the arrival of one distraught wife.

Soun was the first to the door, closely followed by a weary Kasumi. She waited up late into the night hours for the return of Ranma, who for all intents and purposes, had not been seen nor heard from since disappearing into Nerima. Nabiki leaned against the frame of the hallway, waiting to see what kind of character this Nodoka really was.

Soun slid the door open to gaze upon a woman near her middle years, though her hair was a softer red than Ranma's female form. Blue eyes that looked like they had cried an ocean of tears rimmed by red rings stared from a face lined with worry and misery. Her blue kimono and red obi looked to have suffered from her hysterical travel to get here all the way from the edges of Juuban to nearly the center of Nerima in only a day.

"Where is my husband? Is he still alive?" She reached forward and grabbed Soun by his gi, shaking him silly with unheard of strength. Not getting the answers she was seeking, she stopped shaking him long enough to lean into his chest and bawled her eyes out at the injustice of it all.

"Mrs. Saotome?" Soun asked the woman, bewildered beyond belief.

"She looks a lot like her son." Nabiki muttered, only to wish she hadn't when the woman stopped crying on Soun and turns her gaze on her.

"You've seen my Ranma?" she whispered in a barely audible voice before seeming to teleport past Soun and repeat her throttling, only this time on Nabiki. "Where is my son?!? You've no idea what kind of hell I've seen!"

It took both Soun and Kasumi to pry Nodoka's hands from off of Nabiki before whiplash set in.

Moments later as calmer heads prevailed, Nodoka was told how both Genma and son had arrived at their house three days passed. They explained to her that her son was also now her daughter and her husband was now the family pet as they explained the Jusenkyo curse as best as they understood it. It was fortunate for them that Nabiki had the forethought to print off a description of Jusenkyo and a brief flyer about their instant packets that were sold as party commodities.

To say she was upset was being kind about it.

"I'LL KILL HIM!" Nodoka shouted at the top of her lungs as she headed for the stairs. Soun attempted to grab hold of her but missed the sleeve of her dark blue kimono by inches. Hot on her trail, Soun and his two eldest chased Nodoka upstairs and down the hall to the only room without a plaque hanging from it.

She slid the door open, nearly throwing it through the wall behind it as she balefully glared into the room. Sitting next to Genma's bed, force feeding him to make sure he stayed healthy, Akane turned from what she was doing to look at the strangely red glowing woman.

"Can I help you?" Akane asked, clueless as to the death gaze that was being shot over her shoulder and to the sweating man behind her.

"No-chan!" Genma squealed in mortal terror. He was trying to make his legs work, but that stuff the young Tendo was feeding him was playing havoc with his body. He hadn't been able to feel his legs ever since that first meal by her.

Nodoka reached for her waist, only to find that her hand grabbed at nothing but air. Wondering how that could be, she looked down at her waist to realize that she had left the house under the assumption that Genma was dying and left the honor blade on its rack in the dojo. Cursing herself for her foolishness, she walked over as calmly as she could to Genma, her battle aura still flaming brightly for all to see.

"Excuse my interrupting your mealtime, Husband." She said the last word with barely contained contempt. "I wanted to discuss a few things with you about our son." Hopefully her eyebrow wasn't ticking as hard as what she thought it was, Genma always said it was a good indication of her mood.

Watching Nodoka's face, Genma counted off mentally how many times her brow twitched. After getting nearly to eighty before he had reached half a minute, he decided that using his arms to crawl out the window nearby was in his best interests.

"So your auntie Saotome!" Akane deduced as she placed her bowl of 'specially prepared food' next to her and turned to face Nodoka properly. Her parent and sisters were motioning for her to come over to them, but she didn't see why that was necessary. After all, women weren't perverts. "I'm Akane Tendo, heir to the Tendo School of Martial Arts."

A true smile seemed to grace Nodoka's lips as Akane beamed happily up at Nodoka, her battle aura guttering out as she patted the young Tendo's head. "Akane, dear, if you'd be so kind as to allow me and my husband some privacy? We haven't seen each other in ten years, and we need to talk for a moment."

"Of course, Auntie." Akane said as she stood up, conveniently forgetting the food she left at the bedside of Genma. She walked over to the door and gave the elder woman a beautiful smile before closing the door on them.

The description of the sounds that came from this room would make the bravest man cringe and the weakest die simply to even have the rumor of said sounds be uttered in his presence. Suffice it to say, for the next hour or so after those doors closed, people all over Nerima shivered and found some reason to be inside, praying to whatever Kami they believed in that they were not the ones being so tortured.

Once the sounds died out and a silence that made people nervous ensued, Nodoka Saotome walked slowly down the stairwell looking for all intents immaculate in her blue kimono and red obi. Kasumi was in the process of cooking a meal for her newest guest, remembering to conserve food as best as she could to keep finances down. Although Mrs. Saotome had arrived to deliver punishment to her wayward husband, they were still hurting monetarily.

Nodding to Mrs. Saotome as she walked through the kitchen, she stood aside and allowed the older woman to sample her meal. The smile she received raised her spirits from the gloom they had settled into since Ranma's disappearance, but only enough to feel less upset and more worried.

Bringing dinner out to her family and to her guest, Kasumi listened in on what Soun was telling her. "Do you have any idea where Ranma may have disappeared to, Mrs. Saotome?" he asked, concerned for all intents and purposes.

Nodoka shook her head. "My husband and child have been gone for ten years. I can honestly say that if Ranma has run away, I wouldn't have the slightest idea as to where he disappeared to." Nodoka looked forlornly in front of herself as she thought. "I can only imagine what kind of child he raised my son up to be."

"A thief, apparently." Nabiki couldn't resist, and the glare she got from Kasumi wasn't cooling her dislike for the young Saotome. Nodoka's shocked gaze snapped up to the middle Tendo's eyes. "Nearly two days ago, the day of his disappearance, he stole a sizeable amount of money from all of us and disappeared into the streets with it."

Nodoka's hair audibly toinged from the bun on her head, giving her a ruffled and unsettled look.

"Now, because of his theft, we are in danger of losing our house and our livelihood." Nabiki continued, taking a rice cracker and munching on it without a care in the world on her face, her voice betraying that illusion.

"Be that as it may," Soun said, receiving a disparaging look from his daughter, "I have one last thing to say to you that will bring his emotional state into context with what may or may not have occurred. We honestly cannot say whether Ranma stole money from us without proof, though he is our prime suspect."

By this time, Akane was sitting at the table listening in as Kasumi brought the last of the food to the table and took her own seat.

Soun pulled out a book titled Neko-Ken and handed it across the table to Nodoka. "I think you should read this, but I warn you, it's not for the faint of heart."

Confused as to what that meant, Nodoka opened the book and began reading through the pages. Akane peeked around the side to see what was so interesting about a cat attack. Nodoka got halfway through the book before the color drained from her face and her eyebrow twitched fiercely. Akane looked faintly green around the edges, but continued to read.

By the time Nodoka was nearly done with the book, Akane excused herself and headed down the hall to the bathroom.

Closing the book as easily as she could and placing it flat on the table under her hands, she raised her stone cold eyes to Soun. "Which method did he use?" she asked, frost literally coating her lips.

Soun swallowed before he could answer. "I honestly don't know that."

"Guess." Nodoka wanted to know this answer, and wanted it bad enough to give a very unseemly display of impropriety to this family that had allowed her to sit with them at their dinner. If her son had truly gone through this training…

"Knowing Genma as I do from training under our Master", he shivered involuntarily, whether because of the woman in front of him or by the thought of his Master, "I would guess the last one."

The air visibly chilled around Nodoka at those words. Reaching down to her obi and her coin purse, Nodoka pulled out a roll of bills three fingers fat and laid them on the table before standing up. "Thank you for this information and for your hospitality. This money I give you is for your losses and for the room and board my husband and son may have incurred under your care."

Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she looked sadly upon them all. "If you find my son, or hear anything about him, please call me immediately I will gladly compensate you for all of your troubles. Good day to you." She bowed to Soun and his daughters one at a time before walking out of the room and heading upstairs.

She came back down stairs pulling the gi of Genma by the neck as she dragged him out of the house. Nothing was said between them, and Nodoka would wait until they got home, otherwise she might have to murder him right now.

Kasumi and Nabiki both looked confused at Soun before Nabiki reached for the book and the money. By this time, Akane came back into the room and sat down at the table, still looking green around the edges. Pocketing the money, she opened the book and read for herself. Using the index, she flipped to the back where her father said may have been the reason Ranma was so messed up.

She read maybe half the page before her eyes popped out of her head and she slammed the book shut. Kasumi looked worriedly from her sisters to her father, who also had a pasty complexion, before looking at Nabiki and the book. She took the book from Nabiki's limp fingers, pulling it away but not opening it, simply pocketing the book in her apron.

"Let's eat before dinner gets cold, okay?" Kasumi offered, trying to raise their spirits.

The only thing she managed to do was send Akane running back to the bathroom. Nabiki looked nearly as ill as Akane, though she managed to keep from throwing up. Soun took his chopsticks in hand before taking the offered rice bowl from Kasumi. Nabiki waved her sister off from the food, saying she was no longer hungry as she stood up and walked to the stairs heading up to her room.

Akane came back a bit later, but also didn't stay around to eat, saying she was on a diet. Thanking her sister anyways, she headed upstairs to her bedroom.

Disappointed that her meal would go uneaten tonight, Kasumi and Soun ate slowly, wondering what would happen next to their household.

* * *

The next day Nabiki called her contacts in the Yakuza , buying them an extra day to make up the rest of the money that was owed them, but not longer than that. To the best of her abilities, Nabiki ran betting through the school on the most trivial of things to the usual fights that were like a daily regimen of insanity that Nerima needed to take to stay Nerima. She sold pictures of anything she could, even going so far as to offer full nudity shots of herself. 

By the time school was out, she had not made enough.

Nabiki walked home, head down and tears running along her cheeks, unsure what would become of her family. She had tried her best, she had tried to keep her family from being out on the street, but her best wasn't good enough. Now, because of a bad choice of ethics, her family was not only going to be out on the street, but was going to be someone's property.

She cursed her ill fated luck, she cursed her lack of morals and ethics, but most of all, she cursed Ranma Saotome.

Everything would have been fine if he and his father had never come to the dojo. They would have found some way of making their food stretch as far as it could while paying off the loan to the yakuza. She also would have found a means to save up their cash and not have to worry about lack of college funds for her and Akane, even making enough of a nest egg up for Kasumi's dowry and daddy's retirement.

She sighed as she rubbed her cheeks. Who was she kidding? She was the reason for her family's bad luck. She should have sold her skills on the street when she could to make sure things didn't get this bad. At least then she wouldn't have had to go to the yakuza for that stupid loan. So what if her father would never have talked to her again? At least she could have provided for them.

She bumped into someone, not seeing where she was going and her resentment snapped. "Watch where the hell you're..?" her voice trailed off at the mess in front of her.

Blood leaked freely from the left arm from under the sleeve of the red cheongsam with a twined dragon along the body. The person's shoes were lost some time ago and every step was a bloody one, most likely due to walking on things best left for shoes. The hair was dull and matted, crusty blood peeking out from between the red locks and along the pigtail that hung low. The person wobbled dangerously on weary legs, unsure of their own step.

"Ranma?" Nabiki whispered, catching the attention of the person in front of herself.

They turned around and she blanched. It was Ranma, or what was left of her. One whole side of her face was swollen badly, her eyesight impossible from the left one. Shallow cuts on her cheek under the one good eye gave her the semblance of crying tears of blood. Her nose was busted open and bleeding slowly from the bridge, from the stains on her face, she had been in one fight too many.

Reaching underneath her cheongsam with her good arm, she pulled out a bundle of money far larger than anything Nabiki had ever seen before. The roll was nearly as large as her fist and the outside bill read ten thousand yen on it. Unable to accurately hand over the money to her, Ranma pushed it into her stomach until she felt her hands wrapping around it.

Unable to understand what Ranma was doing, she looked up into Nabiki's disbelieving eyes before wiping at the tears that were still playing along her cheeks. The light in Ranma's eyes went out as her knees gave out and she collapsed forward into Nabiki, Nabiki's arms reflexively reaching out and around the hurt girl. Looking down into the unconscious face of the person she just didn't understand, she did the first thing that came to her mind.

"Help me! Someone, please, help me!"

* * *

Nabiki sat unseeing on the couch in the waiting room of Dr. Tofu Ono's practice. It was nearly an hour after the neighbor's had rushed out of their houses ready to defend each other from thugs and the like when they found Nabiki and a barely breathing Ranma. They had rushed both her and her friend to Tofu's before beginning a manhunt in the streets for the bastards who could do that to a girl. 

Nabiki had summarily been declared fit if in a state of shock and could go at any time. Ranma was worse off in the extreme and was a miracle of the human body how she was still alive. She had lost a lot of blood, nearly half of it, not to mention the dislocated left shoulder, cracked skull, and sprained ankle. Tofu didn't know if she was going to make it, but in his best opinion, if she wasn't dead by now she wasn't going to die.

That joke didn't exactly fly with Nabiki either.

The yakuza had been called on Nabiki's cell phone. They had come while Tofu was still examining Ranma for anything he might have missed, thankfully Nabiki didn't have to explain how she knew them to Tofu. They had taken the money, it was still short ten thousand yet, but for such a small amount of money, they were willing to wait. They didn't ask about the blood that was all over her school uniform and she didn't bother telling them.

Her next call had been to Kasumi. She should have been home by now and it was probably driving her sister insane with worry that the yakuza had caught up to her and made her do all sorts of things in remunerations, and that was just a start of what she was going to have to do for them. Thankfully, her father had picked the phone up and managed to keep his weeping down to a gentle trickle until she explained that the yakuza were no longer a threat and she needed help at Tofu's.

She waited for whoever would be coming. At this point, she was emotionally shell shocked. The last few days had not only been physically draining, but had sapped her will to do anything but sit there and let the world go by without her. It was different, not something she was used to. It left her unsettled, and feeling strangely alone.

Tofu's door slid open and in walked a bawling Soun and a slightly worried Kasumi Tendo. Soun took one look at his daughter, broke down into even more tears and immediately lifted her off the couch into a bone crushing hug, unmindful that his tears were soaking his middle child. The look of worry on Kasumi's face cleared up immediately when Nabiki looked at her over her father's shoulder before Nabiki broke down and cried openly into him.

The door leading into Tofu's medical area opened and out came Tofu, removing bloody latex gloves and the mask over his face. He sighed once into his hands as he mentally shrugged off the fugue that Nabiki's friend put him in before looking up at who else was here.

The moment he saw Kasumi, the world went away. Tofu was off in his own world with the love of his life, dancing around his office as he imagined the life he would be living with the woman that made his world spin. Kasumi smiled happily at the doctor, wondering why he was acting so happily, but not saying anything at his antics.

"Sis, I'm afraid you're gonna have to wait outside, or we'll never get Tofu to calm down." Nabiki sniffled as she pulled away from her father, Soun eyeing Tofu as if the man was slightly unbalanced and not safe to be around.

Tilting her head to the side in confusion at her sister, she complied none the less and closed the door behind her as she waited for her family.

The moment Kasumi left the room, the doctor seemed to come back to his senses, though his glasses were still fogged up. "Oh, Mr. Tendo. Are you here to pick up Nabiki?" It was as if he didn't even realize Kasumi had just been there.

"Actually, we're here about her friend." Soun said, earning him a confused tilt much like Kasumi's, but the doctor didn't inquire as to whom else was with him. Maybe it was a mouse in his pocket or something.

Opening the doorway and motioning for Soun and Nabiki to go first, Tofu stepped in after them and closed the door for privacy's sake. On the lone table lay Ranma, the swelling had gone down a bit from the ice pack that was positioned and hanging from a rod above her head, both feet were bandaged heavily and gauzed, and a tight bandaged wrap could be seen covering her left shoulder.

"It's amazing she's even still alive." Tofu said critically as he pulled the medical chart he had used to write down everything that was wrong with her. "She has light internal injuries as if she was put through ha tenderizer and left in there for hours. Dislocated left shoulder and right ankle, forty percent blood loss, fatigue, dehydrated, and a concussion from the size of the blow she took on the back of her head." Tofu shook his head at the mess. "I can't even begin to imagine how she was still on her feet when Nabiki found her."

"Do you know where she came from, or what could have caused all this to her?" Soun didn't know what he was going to do when or if he found the punks who did this to Ranma, but someone was going to get their butt handed to them, out of practice or not.

"I did find one thing on her." Tofu handed over a subway ticket stub. "It was in her pocket when I checked to get her identification or anything else that would prevent me from finding out what else was wrong with her. Does it mean anything to you?"

Soun looked at it, confusion playing across his face before handing it to Nabiki. She took one look at it before turning around and running out of Tofu's clinic.

"I guess it does mean something, after all." Tofu muttered as he shook his head.

"Can I take her home?" Soun asked, his throat dry and raspy. He would not cry, not right now.

"Is she a part of your family?" Tofu asked with confusion. "I thought you only had three daughters."

"I do." Soun cleared his throat as he looked Tofu in the eye. "She's a cousin from outside the city who was coming to visit, daughter to my sister. Her name is Ranko Tendo."

Tofu wrote the information down on his clipboard. "Well, she's in pretty bad shape, I'd prefer to keep her overnight to get her blood pressure back up."

Soun nodded. "I'll come back tomorrow to see how she is. Thank you, Doctor." Soun bowed deeply to the young man before him. He was a good man, a little unbalanced, but still a good man.

* * *

It was actually two days before Tofu would allow the newly christened Ranko out his door and only because Kasumi had to ask politely. It was dangerous business dealing with a love struck Doctor, especially one who knew shiatsu pressure points, you just had to know the right way to ask him. 

Soun had just managed to get Ranma back to his house and inside the gate when a woman in a blue kimono and red obi appeared from out of nowhere, swept the red headed child from out of his arms, and whisked said child into the house all within the blink of an eye. He flexed his fingers and counted his toes just to make sure everything was still attached. As he went inside followed closely by Kasumi, he noticed a windswept Nabiki trying to pull herself out of the hallway wall.

It reminded him so much of when he had brought home a crying Nabiki from preschool where she had been cruelly teased by the other children because of her clothing. The moment he had stepped into the house, his wife had flown, not run, into him and took her daughter into her arms before whisking her up to her room. It had taken him nearly an hour to get free from the floor he had been planted in.

Aiding his middle daughter from a meeting of the unmovable, he helped her into the dining room to sit and get the stars out of her head while the eldest daughter headed for the dining room and the dinner yet to be cooked.

Nodoka laid her son turned daughter onto the futon, taking great care to be as gentle as she could. She hadn't seen him in so long and to hear that he had been hospitalized had done nothing for her heart or her patience, as her husband would attest to. Using her lap as a pillow for her little Ranma, Nodoka hummed gently to her sleeping child as she smoothed out the red hair which was a brighter shade than her own.

Nabiki, although dazed, was returning back to herself over the last two days. The stress of trying to find a way to not be sold into slavery and guilt over involving her family had made her a wreck, going so far as to make people think they could take advantage of her. When she made her reluctant return as the Ice Queen, many were left wondering, where others just assumed it was that time of the month.

They didn't think that for long when she cleaned them out for everything they were worth and then some. The one person who accused her of being a yakuza would thankfully never sully the gene pool ever again.

Still, Ranma's name was a sensitive thing around her ears while she was home. They only need to ask once what the ticket was about and have her break down into tears to remember not to bring it up in her presence until she was ready. Akane made the mistake of threatening to bash the pervert into the ground for taking advantage of her sister in whatever way he did to make her cry like that. The tongue lashing she had gotten had left her red cheeked and quick to avoid Nabiki at all costs.

Kasumi could guess why Nabiki would defend Ranma. She had gotten Nabiki to confide in her that first day at Tofu's about the money Ranma had given her and done her own research about the ticket stub, Soun had left it in his gi. The stub had been a bit confusing for her, not one to normally travel on a metro or anywhere outside of Nerima, but asking a desk clerk at such a place had provided her with everything she needed to hear.

Apparently, Ranma wasn't as unaware of the world around him as he had let on. While they had been talking about their money troubles, he had listened in on everything and had taken it upon himself to gather up what money they had before going to Funabashi. She wondered how he had survived on the streets for so long, fighting the locals and in those horrid pit fights while accumulating as much money as he could before he came home, let alone how he managed to get home in the state he was in.

Finally back on their monetary track, food was easier to get and cook with, though Auntie Saotome refused to take back the money she had given them for the supposed theft. She mentioned something about being reunited with her child and would say nothing else about it. Shrugging, Kasumi prepared the plates and took them carefully out to the dining room table, calling for Akane to come in from the dojo and eat.

Returning back to the kitchen, she took two plates with her and headed upstairs. She walked down the second floor hallway carefully, balancing the plates in each hand before propping one against herself and her arm, freeing one hand to slide the door open and step inside. Nodoka looked up from stroking her child's hair to look at Kasumi entering.

"Thank you, dear, for being so considerate." Nodoka smiled softly, as if a great weariness was slowly seeping into her.

"It's no trouble, Auntie." Kasumi said as she kneeled next to them with a practiced manner, balancing herself and her food with a dainty grace. Laying the plates of food to the side, she gazed for a moment at the peaceful look on Ranma's face. "He's so peaceful." She murmured, Nodoka's eyes resting on her own child's face.

Those, apparently, were the words you should not say around Ranma Saotome as she sat bolt upright and slashed with her hand in front of herself. They had missed the tell tale signs of the blue claws springing to life on her hand, but the sudden four rips that cut into the wall in front of her were impossible to miss.

Ranma panted heavily, as if struggling to contain something while at the same time Kasumi and Nodoka stared at Ranma in shock, both of their hair visibly frizzled from errant strands of hair standing on end. Ranma glanced over at Kasumi, eyes confused and slightly disoriented before he looked behind him and froze in horror. Although Nodoka was visible shocked at her son's act of destruction, the look she was suddenly giving her made her cold inside.

Ranma was on his feet and pressed up against the wall he had slashed from a good five feet away faster than you could blink, he pushed himself into the wall hard enough to make it creak. Nodoka couldn't move, the abject horror on her child's face was breaking her heart in a way only a child's rejection of their parents could ever do. Kasumi looked between the nearly crying Nodoka to the scared Ranma.

The sounds of stomping feet came up the stairs and for a moment Kasumi thought that Ranma would do the same thing he had done to the wall, only this time it would be her family instead of wood. Kasumi was on her feet as his hand reared back for another swat, fear creasing his face in a mask of terror. Stepping inbetween the hallway behind her and in front of Ranma's line of sight, she calmly waited for the end.

"Kasumi!" Nodoka shouted, as Kasumi closed her eyes.

She waited, even when the sound of her family's footsteps ended behind her. She waited till even the echo of their feet pounding through the house had faded away. She waited till she couldn't even hear breathing anymore before she opened her eyes.

Ranma had moved, silent as a ghost into the farthest corner of the room away from everybody. Curled into a ball and crying as silently as she could, Ranma shuddered with the wracking sobs of the inconsolable. Nodoka cringed and turned away from looking at her son, her own tears leaking from her eyes at the miserable wreck her husband had made of their son. Kasumi took a step toward Ranma and stopped as Ranma tried pushing herself through the corner she was in to get away from her, which made Kasumi's heart wrench all the harder in her.

"Auntie Saotome," Kasumi voice whispered over the sounds of crying, "I think we should leave Ranma alone for awhile."

Nodoka stood shakily before smoothing her hair back into place and composing herself once again. "I believe you're right, Kasumi. In any event, I need to go home and find that husband of mine. I think I'll have him honor that pledge he handed me before this ridiculous training journey began."

Nabiki's ears twitched. "What kind of pledge did he make you?" She asked. Something about it sounded like something she may want a hand in.

As Nodoka walked over to Soun, Nabiki and Akane, she pulled out from her kimono a rumpled sheet of paper. A signature and thumb print was signed at the bottom right next to a child's handprint. Nabiki looked to the names first before reading it, though what it was became clear instantly.

"A seppuku pledge." Nodoka intoned, drawing everyone's but Ranma's attention to her. "Genma swore to me that if he was allowed to take our son on a training journey, he would make Ranma a man among men. By the looks of our child, I cannot imagine a worse example of manliness even if it were presented to me by Kami himself."

Nabiki pointed out one little detail that made Kasumi's heart stop. "Both of their names are on this."

Nodoka gave a full body twitch at this. "I never intended on having our son go through with this silly oath. I intended it to keep my husband from doing anything ignorant due in no small part from the training that little pervert gave both your father and my husband" Soun didn't try to deny it, nor say anything about it. His Master was a pervert. "I see that Genma took to the training far more than your father did, which is a blessing for all of you."

Nodoka bowed once, readjusting the pledge into a roll before settling it into her kimono. "Please excuse me, I have to go kill someone." Nodoka said, calm as can be before walking past the stunned Tendo's and out of the house.

* * *

Long after everyone had gone to bed, Nabiki had asked Kasumi's help with Ranma. When asked with what, Nabiki said, "The best way to help someone who doesn't know how to live is to help them. With that in mind, when was the last time Ranma was washed?" 

Kasumi couldn't deny that Ranma most likely hadn't seen a bath since that first night when they had seen his change, so deciding that a bath was in order, Kasumi donned her swimsuit and followed Nabiki out into the hallway. Nabiki decided to go with a swimsuit instead of the jean and tank top combo, going with a two piece that was almost too provocative to see in public. Kasumi wondered why her sister liked flaunting herself off like that so much, but didn't question her sister's opinion.

Opening the spare bedroom door, Kasumi and Nabiki looked into the dim room to see if they could find the boy turned girl. She sat almost exactly where she had been, curled in the corner but now with the familiar dead look in her face that they were becoming accustomed to. Walking in carefully and flipping the light switch on, Ranma's eyes moved to the two girls. Kasumi went to step forward, but Nabiki's hand prevented her.

Shaking her head at her sister, Nabiki offered her hand from the doorway. "You haven't had a bath in days, Ranma. You need to stay clean." She called to her, not making any other move but to stand there.

Ranma didn't make a move to join them, remaining in the corner of the room. Kasumi looked at her sister who shook her head at her and continued to wait. Unsure of what her goal was in this, Kasumi offered her own hand to Ranma. Ranma watched for a bit longer, her brows creased as she observed them before she shifted himself.

As she rose to her feet, she shifted her weight unsteadily. Taking a breath before moving, she kept her eyes on the girls as she put one slow foot in front of the other. Kasumi wondered if this was a sign that Ranma was starting to come out of his shell. Ranma moved slowly until she was nearly in front of them, taking their hands in hers before coming to a stop. Although Kasumi and Nabiki smiled at her, she refused to return their smile.

They walked, as best as they could, hand in hand down the hall to the bath and the furo. Taking off her clothes before heading into the bathing area, Ranma again gave no change of expression on her face, but at least it was easier to undress her. Nabiki walked into the bath first, letting Kasumi finish removing Ranma's clothes as she reached over to the basin and began filling it with hot water.

Bringing Ranma into the bath, Kasumi guided and sat her down on the stool and let Nabiki do the honors this time, watching how Ranma's body stretched out in some places, smoothed over in others, and became a girl's wet dream under other circumstances. His body had healed over faster than normal, most likely due to the punishment it had always taken while on his training journey. His body had to adapt to heal faster than normal so that he could keep up with the training regimen his father put him through.

Taking the shampoo from Nabiki, Kasumi poured a dollop into one hand before laying the bottle down and reaching up to remove the tie in his pigtail. Ranma placed his hand on his pigtail, preventing her from undoing it and moving her hand down as he undid his own hair, shaking his hair lightly to let the pigtail come free on its own.

Nabiki eyed Kasumi who could only shrug at her before she applied the shampoo to his head. Trying to keep her eyes up on his chest and arms, Nabiki did what she could to curb the looks she wanted to send lower than his stomach. It was hard to remember that he had been taken from his mother when he was young and abused, unless you looked at the scars across his back.

Her sister didn't seem to have a problem seeing Ranma as a man, if the evidence in her swimsuit was what she thought it was. Even looking down at all the scars on his back, she hummed away blissfully, washing his hair as if she were his wife. Was there something wrong with herself, maybe? Couldn't she see past a person's outer hurt and see what was underneath like her onee-chan?

"Nabiki?" Kasumi's voice broke through her fugue, making her look up at her sister's face. "I think he can clean that by himself."

Nabiki looked confused at her sister briefly. Clean what by himself? She looked at what she was holding and fell backwards with a squeak, releasing Ranma's legs with her hands. Kasumi tsked her sister from her impropriety while Nabiki blushed whole new levels of crimson.

Apparently, her hands had started washing Ranma's legs without her brain. At least she hadn't been touching something else.

After Nabiki's fiasco of washing Ranma, they washed him off and settled him into the furo as they sat against the outside, talking to each other. "I can't believe he went to Funabashi for us." Nabiki muttered out loud as she played her fingers along the surface of the water.

"I think there's more of Ranma in him than he even realizes." Kasumi said as she stroked the hair back from his face, his body submerged up to his chin.

Nabiki made a considering sound in her throat. "When he first came here, I wouldn't have bet even money on him at all. It's like he's….I don't know, unsure of himself, maybe."

Kasumi tilted her head to the side, considering this. "I think you're close, but it's deeper than that."

Nabiki looked into his cold face. "Who are you really, Ranma Saotome? What's your secret?" She smiled mischievously at him, as if she knew her own secret.

"Nabiki?" Kasumi called to her sister while watching Ranma's hair play through her fingers. At the sound of her ascent, she continued. "What is the Neko-Ken?"

Ranma flinched hard enough to snap his head back from underneath her hand and splash water trying to get away from her. Kasumi had to get up and away from the furo before Ranma would finally calm down. Nabiki took one of Ranma's hands in her and stroked it with hers, trying to calm the boy down more to allow Kasumi to come back and sit next to him.

"Kasumi." Nabiki said gently, but gave her sister a piercing look. "I know you still have that book in your room, and I'm telling you, don't read it." She calmly placed Ranma's hand in the water before she went on. "Burn it, tear it up, anything but read it. That technique is an abomination that the world needs to forget."

Kasumi raised her hand only to watch Ranma flinch. She tilted her head in defeat before asking Nabiki to help him finish before leaving them in peace. Kasumi went back to her room, wishing her curiosity didn't kill the cat, so to speak. She changed from her swimsuit to her nightgown, making sure she was decently clothed, even underneath her nightgown. She sat down on her bed, listening for a bit until she heard Nabiki bringing Ranma back down the hall to his room before heading back to the furo.

Kasumi knew that the cat fist must have been bad if both her father and Nabiki wouldn't discuss it, even Auntie Saotome had looked fit to strangle and Akane couldn't eat a bite afterwards. What could Genma have done to him that was so bad? Was the training worse than she could imagine?

She could imagine so pretty bad stuff, y'know. Like being out of salt in the kitchen and the stores are closed for the night, that's really bad. Or running out of soy sauce, which was even worse than running out of salt.

Her hands itched to read it. Fingers rubbing against each other incessantly, she looked at the apron that hung from her chair in her room, the bulge in the pocket so tempting. Nabiki had told her not to read it, had told her specifically to get rid of the book by any means, not to let anyone else learn its secrets. She glanced at the doorway that led to the hall and eventually Ranma, she wanted to help him so badly. It was a home maker's duty to make everyone in their house happy…

Her path set, Kasumi retrieved the book from her apron and took a seat on her bed. Flipping the cover over, there was a picture of a martial artist standing on their back leg, front leg forward and body hunched with hands splayed before him above the title. Flipping the title page, Kasumi read that the Cat Fist, or Neko-Ken, is the creation of a Kami-like martial arts that, when perfected, cannot be defeated by any man alive.

_'The Cat Fist is a secular martial arts technique developed in ancient Egypt that, when mastered, has never been defeated by any foe be it man, beast, or spirit. Since ancient times, the teaching of the Cat Fist has been passed down through a secret order of priests and warriors dedicated to a singular ideology…'_

This didn't help her in the least bit in understanding Ranma. Flipping the page, she came to the index that briefly mentioned the various ways to master the Cat Fist. Eyeing the last one as the one that everyone seemed to agree was the worst, Kasumi flipped to the designated page. The title of the page seemed to be the same as the front of the book, briefly describing and mentioning the history, but in a more condensed version. The instructions, though, looked even easier to understand.

"Let's see, build large pit." Kasumi muttered to herself, not understanding what you would need a pit for to learn about cats. "Throw many cats into pit, that's not very nice." She was beginning to see the true evils of this technique. "Starve cats for many days and night, how horrid." Cats need to eat too, who could do something that cruel? "Take trainee of approximate six to eight years of age." She hoped it was to help those poor animals out of that terrible place and feed them.

Only when it came to the part that they were to wrap the student in many fish products did she not want to read any further, a slow sinking feeling filling her with dread. When she saw the word 'Toss' in the next line of instructions, she threw the book against the far side of her room. She shivered uncontrollably in a cold sweat, starting to get a grasp of what the training was all about. Still, maybe she was wrong, maybe it was toss food into pit before tossing the trainee in.

Yeah, that was possible, it couldn't have wanted the person to throw the child into the pit.

She walked over and picked the book up, finding the index and then finding the page she had been reading. She couldn't read the instructions over again, even wishing to believe that the instructions were not as terrible as they sounded, she couldn't even read the last line she had moved to. Fortunately, there was one other line underneath that one, maybe if she skipped to the end she'd see that they actually let the cats go after they had taught the child the Cat Fist.

Hope has a strange way of springing eternally in the heart of an innocent, but when someone's innocence dies, it dies an ugly death.

Tears cascaded down her near perfect cheeks as her eyes passed over the damning words, forever ruining the idea that someone couldn't be irredeemably bad. In cold black and white script, the words repeated themselves over and over in her head, mocking her naivety with its claws of pain and cruel laughter. She dropped the book and wrapped her arms around herself, unable to stop the cold chills and the tears that flowed from her eyes.

* * *

She needed a cold shower, but a quick rinse was about all she was going to get. She hadn't meant to touch him like that, well, not in front of her sister anyways. Still, a girl has to dream sometime, and she does her best in the bath. 

She sighed as she poured another basin of cold water over her head, trying to purge those impure thoughts. She was supposed to be helping him out, not taking advantage of him. Her eldest sister wouldn't approve in the least about those thoughts, even if she was having them herself.

"Closet pervert." Nabiki smirked before dumping one last bucket over her head. Shaking off the water that dripped off of her, she reached for the towel and began to rub herself dry. It wasn't fair, sometimes. The only guy that ever did something nice for her and his father was messed up in the head enough to abuse him.

"I guess helping to get rid of his dad was a step in the right direction." Nabiki once again muttered to herself. She opened the doorway into the bathroom and reached to the top of the hamper for her bikini. It was the only clothing she had brought with her, she'd just have to change when she got back into her room.

Slipping her two piece back on, she opened the door and nearly screamed. Standing feet in front of her just beyond the door, Ranma stared balefully into her face. Cold chills ran up her back and goosebumps played along her skin as she looked up into his stormy blue eyes, his black hair still unbound and hanging past his shoulders.

He didn't say anything to her, staring into her eyes for what seemed forever before taking her hand and dragging her down the hallway. Nabiki's mind wasn't working properly as she watched him stalk down the hall, a rolling gait that flowed instead of walked. His cheongsam was cut off at the shoulders so she could see the muscles that corded in his arms as she was pulled along, taken wherever he wanted her to go.

She nearly bumped into him on purpose as he abruptly came to a stop in front of her, turning on her and placing his firm hands to her shoulders. She could do nothing as she looked into his face, paralyzed by something she couldn't understand, didn't want to understand. He leaned down over her, his face coming closer to hers as she closed her eyes instinctively.

His breath brushed across her cheek, making her shiver unconsciously. "Listen." His voice was quiet and rough at the same time, and she leaned closer to him, wanting to hear anything he had to say.

"Can't you hear her?" his voice asked of her.

She was confused. What was she supposed to be listening to? She opened her eyes in confusion, but Ranma wasn't looking anymore at her, but the door to her left. "She's crying."

"Wha?" The plain wooden plaque with the few colored daisies floating around the name didn't make any sense to her. "Why would…Ranma?" In the time she had turned to the door, he had disappeared, his doorway closed as if it had never been open in the first place.

Frustrated beyond belief, she sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair. Reaching for her sister's room, she turned the doorknob and opened the doorway.

Kasumi _was_ crying, she just had not been able to hear her through the door even as close as she had been. Pushing the door open, she peered at the shadowy form of her sister in her nightgown crying her heart out as she shook all over. The Neko-Ken book was easily seen at her feet, and she knew instantly what had happened.

She walked over and kicked the infernal training manual away from Kasumi, nearly jamming her toes into the floor before she sat down next to her sister and wrapped her in her arms. Kasumi unlatched her arms from herself and threw them around Nabiki in a tight embrace, her despairing wail being poured into Nabiki's shoulder as she continued to hear the taunting words of the book playing over and over again in her head.

"What have I done, Nabiki?" Kasumi said as she wept weakly into her sister's shoulder. "I didn't mean to hurt him."

"Sshhh, it's all right, Kasumi." Nabiki stroked her sister's back as best as she could, not accustomed to consoling the heart broken. "He knows you didn't mean it. I bet my life on it."

If Kasumi heard or not didn't matter to her. Right now she needed to be loved to mend what could not be mended. Peering hatefully over Kasumi's shoulder at the bare outline of that book, she could only think one thing. _"Damn you, Genma Saotome. Damn you to hell."_

* * *

Even as one Nabiki Tendo cursed the name of Genma, Genma was on the move. Training under his Master had allowed him many useful skills, a few of those including picking locks and slipping out of ropes that were not meant to be escaped from. His wife had been merciful to him, giving him time to purge that stuff the youngest Tendo had called her food. He should have known that it was some kind of deadly nerve toxin if it prevented him from moving on that first day. 

_"She would have made a great martial artist."_ Genma thought to himself as he headed further into Nerima by the cover of the quarter moon.

He hopped over one large gap between houses and ran onward, not quite sure yet what he was going to do, but one thing was for sure. He was going to get that ungrateful son of his back, beat some sense into him, and show him exactly where his place in the world was. He was meant to marry one of those silly girls and keep him fat and fed while Genma trained the next generation of students for him, allowing Ranma to be Sensei in name only.

_"It would serve him right if he became engaged to that brute of a Tendo."_ Genma smiled darkly, imagining Ranma paralyzed by the food she had kept him fed with, unable to move and barely breathing as Genma trained a whole new line of children in his family's style of martial arts.

_"Sorry Tendo, old friend."_ Genma thought as he cleared a street, landing on the house across the way. _"I'm afraid your school is going to have to be forgotten for the good of the Anything Goes."_

The sound of a bike bell ringing behind him made Genma stop. Confused as to who would be riding their bike at night, he peered over his shoulder, preparing to slip into the Shooting Star Cloth technique. The ten-speed that came out of nowhere and crashed into him, landing square between the eyes, caught the fat fool flat footed.

Slammed from his roof perch and crushed into the alley below with enough force to crater concrete, he thankfully passed out.

The person who stood on the roof with what appeared to be two large ball shaped maces glared down at Genma. Their clothing swayed in the night air as they observed their work before leaping away, their mission only begun.

* * *

**I found that a few of you who were kind enough to review are a little lost on the vague things I wrote earlier in my previous chapters. I don't take into consideration sometimes that people like reading a story even if they don't know the background information of the original that was published and made money off of. To that effect, I will briefly describe, after this rant, the few things I discussed and will send back to the reviewers answers to any questions I can. (I'm not telling you what I plan to do next in my story though.)**

**As I said before, that was a pretty risque scene and in some people's eyes, not appropriate for children. I agree with you, but remind you that teenagers are growing up and are learning these things on their own. By this fact, you're making an assumption that she was touching something inappropriate, and for that, you should be ashamed. It Implies Only, might I remind you. Yes, it's ecchi (perverted), but its deliberate. Nabiki has repressed herself for her family for a long time, she's still a girl/woman growing into an adult, get over it. ranting over**

**Jusenkyo: A legendary training grounds in the deep unknowns of China said to be a cursed place. The springs hold over one thousand different curses, each with a tragic story tied to it. Legend has it that falling into a spring curses the survivor into the form of whatever fell in. Hot water reverses the curse, but only until they are doused in cold water.**

**Neko-Ken: Literally translates into Cat Fist, this deadly technique is a banned martial arts maneuver that must traumatize the student (must be a young child) into thinking they are a cat, causing them to tap into their inherit ether abilities (life energy) and create foot long or longer claws that can cleave anything.**

**Shooting Star Cloth: Specialized for use by Genma Saotome, a family sealed martial art that allows the user to cloak themselves in a form of invisibility, allowing them to move about as if they weren't there. It blocks all forms of awareness including scent and sight, but not sound. The drawback to this technique is that the moment they attack with it, the ability drops. Also noted, when the person is in the Shooting Star Cloth, the space they occupy, if sensed by someone who can feel the presence of others through their ether abilities (life energy), will feel a lack of said energies in this spot, as if a hole exists.**


	4. School Rumble

**That's it, I give up. I smashed poor Kasumi's ideals about people into tiny shards of glass and not one of you blasted me for it. I refuse to try to get flamed anymore. Instead, I bring you this bit of story that is in a more positive direction. I do acknowledge that this story is grim, but being forced to endure the Cat Fist and survive is a grim business. I apologize that I couldn't make it any lighter than I could just yet, but there is always hope. After all, Kasumi still cares enough to try, even with Idiots like Genma running loose. It is small consolation, but there are a lot of people that hate Genma, maybe they'll get lucky and find him in that alleyway after all.**

**Disclaimer: Rumiko Takahashi would disembowel me for doing this to her Ranma 1/2. Suing is too good for me.**

* * *

"School?" Nabiki asked, looking at the sedate Ranma who was eating between her and Kasumi. "Is that wise, Daddy?"

Soun nodded emphatically. "Nodoka and I both agree that being around others his own age will do him a world of good."

Nabiki couldn't deny that, but then again, she wasn't a psyche professor, either.

"What about his curse?" Kasumi asked, her hand twitched to hold onto Ranma's but she stilled it.

Soun crossed his arms and hesitated, wondering just how they were going to explain that to the school and the staff in general.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much, Kasumi." Akane said, taking her eyes off the pervert for the moment. "With all the fights and strange stuff that occurs at Furinkan, one more weirdo will hardly matter."

That got her a dirty look from Nabiki and a disappointed one from Kasumi, but she pretended she didn't see them as she leveled another hard stare at the pervert.

"Still, It would probably be best if someone were to take him to the office and explain to the staff his particular…problem." Soun offered, looking at Nabiki who understood the unspoken request.

"What about placement?" Kasumi asked, worried that Ranma's emotional problems weren't the only problems he had. "Do you think his father allowed him to go to school?"

"Guess we'll find out, won't we, Ranma?" Nabiki said as she stood up from the table, taking his hand in hers. "We'd better get going, or we're going to be late." Giving her white blouse and light blue dress a cursory glance, she waited till Ranma got to his feet before walking him to the front door.

She stepped out the door first, only to have Ranma stop, wrenching her shoulder involuntarily. Looking at the boy in confusion, she pulled on his arm again, only to have him once more refuse to walk outside. Letting up, she tried the polite approach. "Ranma, I may not be with you all day today. You're gonna have to learn to walk on your own around school if that's the case."

A shiver ran through Ranma, yet he refused to move.

"You're not speaking his language, Nabiki." Akane said from behind Ranma. "Here's how it works. Ranma, go to school or by Kami, I'm going to mallet you."

Ranma leapt out the doorway and nearly ran Nabiki down as he pulled her through the gates, looking fearfully up and down the street as he looked for the school. Akane walked by them, turning up the street with a smirk on her face.

"See, Nabiki? You just have to know how to talk to him." She calmly spoke as she walked away in her own light blue dress and white blouse.

Growling under her breath, Nabiki got her feet underneath her as she stood up and removed her hand from Ranma's, working her shoulder gently. Before Ranma could bolt off in a direction he assumed school was on, Nabiki took his face in her hands and made him look at her.

"Ranma, look at me." She spoke calmly, but forcefully enough for him to look at her in a panic. "As long as you're with me, I promise I won't allow her to hit you. Do you understand?"

His storm blue eyes flashed in confusion as she reached down and took his hand in her own. "See?" She held her hand up and showed Ranma. "You're with me right now, so I'll make sure that she won't hit you." Confusion remained, added with a dash of doubt, but Ranma nodded weakly to her.

Smiling up into Ranma's face, Nabiki patted his hand before walking him off to his first day of school.

* * *

The gates of Furinkan High reared before them as they approached, the gate standing open to allow all the young minds in for their education and advancement toward colleges and well-to-do jobs. It would have been a bit more impressive if various boys dressed in various sports clothing, scientists, and art clubs weren't spread across the grounds as if a bomb had gone off in their midst. 

Ranma looked fearfully around at all the boys spread about in various states of pain, bodies bent in ways that the human body was not meant to be twisted in. The sounds of wood on wood drew his attention even as they stepped over a hockey player whose mask had been broken by some blunt force. Nabiki sighed and shook her head as she watched the debacle taking place.

A boy of brown hair wielding a wooden kendo sword was dueling Akane Tendo and her mallet. Dark blue upper gi and dark black hakama swished as he moved his weapon rapidly around. Akane, amazingly, was swinging her mallet around as fast if not faster than the boy, the look on her face one of pure rage as her swings came closer and closer to his head.

It was when Akane pulled back out of the way of an over extended strike that the fight ended. With his swing gone wide and his eyes increasing as large as they could at his realized mistake, she reared her weapon of choice back over her head before smashing it into the head of the boy, driving him face first into the ground. Hefting her 'pervert basher' onto her shoulder with a sniff, she turned from the defeated kendoist with a muttered "Pervert." trailing after her.

Walking Ranma carefully over the defeated boys, Nabiki stopped before the very same kendoist to have been recently struck down. "Ranma, I'd like to introduce you to Tatewaki Kuno, our resident idiot."

Kuno's head came up quickly, propping his head on one hand as he drummed his fingers against the ground. "Do know that I hate thee, Nabiki Tendo." The young man said smoothly in a pretentious voice.

Nabiki smiled blithely down at Kuno. "I'm so heart broken."

Regaining his feet and standing as if the blow he had just received didn't happen, he pushed back the curl of brown hair on his brow and eyed Ranma as if unsure what he was looking at. "And what, pray tell, is this person doing with your personage?" continued the recovered kendoist. "A servant, perhaps?"

Nabiki's eyebrow twitched. "He's going to be living with us at our place, Kuno." She slapped her hand over her mouth the moment she said it.

The look of rage that lit in the boy's face and the sneer that grew meant only one thing. His brain had made a leap at logic without looking and fell off a cliff.

Into a pit of razor sharp, broken glass.

"Doth my ears deceive?" Kuno proclaimed loudly, brandishing his kendo stick once again as Nabiki tried to pull Ranma away from the overreacting Kuno. "Didst the mercenary Tendo say that this knave would share the same roof as the virtuous Akane Tendo?!" Ranma eyed the kendo stick warily as Kuno continued overtop of Nabiki's attempt to diffuse the situation. "Nay. Nay, I say! That this peasant shall live in the same abode of such beauty is a sin against the Kami!"

"Look, Kuno, it's not…" the kendo stick that was jabbed into Nabiki's face made Ranma growl as it silenced the protesting girl.

"You do much honor to your family for trying to defend your fairer sister, Nabiki Tendo." Kuno had his eyes closed at the solemn act he perceived was coming from Nabiki. "Tis a great thing, the love between sisters. Were that you weren't of such degraded means or else, you too, would have the pleasure of my love for thee."

Nabiki's eyebrow twitched harder. Mercenary girl, she was used to, degrading herself?

Ranma's hand fell from hers, though she didn't notice it due in fact to her anger at this pompous jerk. She did notice when Kuno went flying backwards and impacted hard into the wall of the school. She looked to her left and noticed that Ranma's face had a decidedly angry glare on it, not to mention his fist was still held in front of him from where it had impacted with Kuno's face.

Kuno stood away from the wall as if the fist hadn't done any kind of damage to him at all. "You would dare raise your hand to the rising star of the kendo club, the blue thunder of furinkan high, Tatewaki Kuno?" He took a second step forward, or at least attempted to before his knees buckled and he fell face first into the dirt, unconscious at last.

Looking from the unconscious Kuno to Ranma who was calming down, she looked to the wall where Kuno had impacted. The concrete had been depressed in a perfect frame around the kendoist, spider cracks trailing up and away from the impact area. Kuno could take a hit, as was evidenced from Akane hitting him earlier, this was on a level that went beyond Kuno's endurance.

Taking Ranma's hand in her own, she wondered what was going on in that head of his before taking him off to the office, leaving Kuno outside as the tardy bell began to ring.

* * *

Ranma's placement testing had miraculously put him in the tenth grade, allowing him to be with those of his own age. Unfortunately, Nabiki was in the eleventh. Having no choice but to calm the young man, she walked him off to his assigned class, letting the office know that he had been traumatized when he was young and making him socially inept to the point of paranoia. 

She knocked on the homeroom door for Ranma's room, waiting patiently until the teacher came over and opened the door for them. Handing the note from the office to the teacher and explaining Ranma's problems to the teacher, she smiled as she watched him get taken into the room. The smile lost a little bit of its power when she saw that Akane was also a student, forgetting all about her sister until she saw her.

Unable to console the fear on Ranma's face, she closed the door to the room and hoped that Akane would mind herself for at least one day.

* * *

Her day had been good so far, the hentai horde had been reintroduced to the power of her mallet, Kuno had put up a cursory challenge until she had out skilled him and drove his head ten feet into the ground. She had made it almost all the way to lunch before the first signs of trouble walked through the door. 

The teacher broke off his lesson in history to open the door and the pigtailed pervert stood on the other side next to her sister. They talked for a moment, the teacher nodding at whatever it was that Nabiki was saying before the teacher took Ranma's hand and walked him up in front of the class. Nabiki smiled gently to Ranma, making Akane's hair bristle before Nabiki looked at her and the smiled dimmed somewhat before she closed the door.

"Class, I want to introduce you to a student who will be joining us from today on." He pushed Ranma forward gently, a nervous look on his face. "This is Ranma Saotome, he recently came to Nerima and will be staying for the time being." The classroom murmured back and forth to each other, the girls at Ranma's looks, the boys at the fear on his face.

"Now, normally, it is traditionally done where a student introduces himself to the class, but I want to make it very clear to you that Ranma had many problems under his father." The girls took on pitying looks at this while the boys wondered what he might have gone through. "Please be nice to him until he gets used to being here."

A chorused 'yes sensei' arose from all the students as the teacher directed Ranma to a seat by the window. Nervously, Ranma took his seat, his pigtail sticking straight out at the back of his head as he peered at all the people around him. Calling the classroom's attention back to him, the teacher began where he left off at.

Ranma listened, for the most part, still looking around at his students who were still casting glances at him from time to time. Making sure to keep an eye out for anyone that meant to hurt him, his gaze passed over everyone till it got to Akane. Akane was staring at him as if she wanted to hurt him, faint flickers of red appearing around her form from time to time as she glared a hole into him.

Unable to do anything but gulp, Ranma turned his eyes forward and hoped that she wouldn't clobber him like that boy got this morning.

As the bell rung for the period to end and lunch to begin, Ranma snapped to his feet. Unfortunately, the desk he was sitting at tore apart, unable to handle the sudden strength the boy put on it. Looking reflexively at the table that had 'fallen' apart, Ranma looked around at the people staring at him. Fearing that he was going to get hit again for messing up, Ranma opened the window next to him and jumped out of it.

There were a few gasps and running feet as they went over to the window Ranma had jumped out of, considering they were on the third floor of the school.

All but Akane stared downward as the boy fell feet first, landing with a soft disturbance of dust from where he touched down. There were a few mutters about how it wasn't possible to a few excited whispers from some girls and some dark mutters from the boys about showoffs. Ranma looked up, seeing that everyone was still staring at him and ran around the corner of the school, disappearing from sight.

She was nearly out of the room when the teacher called to her. "Ms. Tendo, do you know where Ranma went to?"

_"Hopefully to hell."_ She thought. "No, Sensei. He jumped out of the window and ran off." She answered before turning and nearly making it out of the room.

"In that case, would you please make sure that he gets this?" The teacher handed her a list, not slowed down by the fact that a student jumped out a three story window and ran away. Around Furinkan, everything and anything could happen.

Akane's eyebrow twitched. "Of course, Sensei." She turned around and gave her teacher a smile that was as fake as it was sweet.

* * *

Nabiki had gone to his class to get Ranma, but had found out that he had jumped out of the third story window and disappeared around the corner. Amazed as she was that he had survived a third story window drop, Nabiki was more concerned about his immediate welfare and headed outside to see if she could find him. The school grounds were beginning to fill up with students who were on break for lunch. Nabiki scanned the grounds, hoping beyond hope that Ranma hadn't left the school grounds without someone, he didn't exactly seem like the type of person to find his way back to the dojo without getting into trouble. 

She saw her sister sitting under a tree with her two best friends, Yuka and Sayuri. Some wondered why the lightly brown haired Yuka and the dark brown haired Sayuri stayed around Akane all the time. Both girls were decent on the eye, nothing overly modest or exciting about them, just plain old fashioned girls. The reason was it was because they had heard the comment about 'plain, old fashioned girls'. They figured that if they hung around Akane long enough, someone might actually compare them to their 'friend' and say what nice girls they were in comparison to Akane.

Now don't them wrong, they did like being around Akane. They just didn't like all the prospective boys that hit on them in public getting introduced to the ground via Akane's 'Kami'.

"Akane, have you seen Ranma?" Nabiki asked as she approached her sister and her friends.

"No, I haven't seen that pervert." Akane snapped as she ate a bit from her bento. If she ever saw him again, it would be too soon.

"Who's Ranma?" Sayuri looked at Akane as if she was holding out on them.

"Who cares? He's just another pervert!" Akane shouted, nearly spitting the rice in her mouth all over.

Yuka could only sigh and shake her head. She was going to be dateless because of Akane, she could see it. All she wanted was at least one boyfriend before high school ended, was that so much to ask for?

"Ah, the fair Akane Tendo." A snide voice called from behind Nabiki, making all the girls blanch. Walking up to them with a bandage wrapped around his head was the kendoist, Kuno. "It is good to see that you have evaded that miscreant from this morning."

"Kuno, what are you doing here?" Nabiki asked, her patience with the boy running low as it was.

"Ah, Nabiki Tendo." Kuno turned to her, as if realizing she was there after all. "Have you also could to your senses and gotten rid of the foul sorcerer that you brought to school this morning? Perhaps you are atoning for your past indiscretions over the years with this first act?"

"Kuno, you are really pushing your limits with me." Nabiki cautioned him, giving her a look that should have burnt him on the spot.

"And what, pray tell, do you intend to do, Nabiki Tendo?" Kuno challenged her, crossing his arms in front of himself as he eyed her. "Are you going to cut off the acquisitions to the pictures of my love?"

Akane eyed her sister, she wasn't exactly thrilled that her sister had been taking pictures of her again. She was especially not thrilled hearing that she was selling those pics to the biggest pervert in Furinkan.

"Kuno, I'm warning you." Nabiki didn't know what she was going to do to get back at Kuno just yet, but boy, would he get it.

"Do your worst, Nabiki Tendo. The heavens smile down upon me." He raised his boken as if to emphasize that point, staring gallantly up into the stratosphere.

The heavens must have been listening to him as something seemed to fall from yon stratosphere and slam into Kuno's head, driving him bodily into the dirt. Instead of a heavenly body, Kami's foot, or even an aircraft that impacted with his head, standing on the back of Kuno's head, making sure the weight of his full body was behind him was one pigtailed artist.

Akane blink blinked in confusion, unsure of where he came from whereas Nabiki stared at Kuno as if to say 'I told you so'.

"Ranma, I was looking for you." Nabiki said as she turned her face to him, smiling slightly. Ranma turned to face her, blushing slightly as he looked at his feet. "I have your lunch with me, so if you want to eat, you have to come with me."

Ranma nodded and gave his hand to Nabiki, his head tilted downward and away from Nabiki's as Nabiki took his hand and began to take him away.

"Wait!" Kuno was on his feet and pointed his boken at Ranma. Ranma's hand swatted behind himself, turning Kuno's boken into confetti.

Kuno looked at his boken, confused as to why his weapon would choose that moment to turn into a party favor. Tossing the useless weapon away, he reached into his hakama and produced a second boken. "Halt, craven knave!" charging forward and slashing downward, Kuno cleaved through Ranma.

Well, he would have if Ranma had stayed still.

Sensing an imminent strike from behind him, Ranma scooped Nabiki into his arms and jumped upwards, clearing the three story window he had come out of and over the fencing on the roof four stories up. Putting Nabiki down, he glared downward at Kuno. Nabiki was a little surprised and had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming from the sudden jump, her reputation would have been ruined if she had shown any weakness.

"Come back down here, foul sorcerer, and fight honorably!" Kuno shouted up at Ranma, who still peered down at Kuno

"You call striking someone from behind honorable?" Yuka asked, not expecting an answer.

"Ranma." Nabiki called, getting the boy's attention. Offering him to follow her, Ranma took her hand once again and walked into the school via the roof access.

"Ha! My greatness has scared the foul sorcerer away." Kuno posed, hands on his hips as he laughed inanely.

The sound of a bike's bells rang out seconds before a ten-speed crashed into the back of the boy's head, bending the tire on impact and driving him face first into the dirt. All those present blinked dumbly at the sight of a ten-speed cruise missile flying out of nowhere and hitting with deadly accuracy on the kendoist's head.

Akane blinked in disbelief at the bike that was planted in Kuno's head, wondering if a bike could hit as hard as her Kami and what she would have to do in order to become it's disciple.

"Well," Sayuri said as she ate some more of her bento, "That would explain why he acts like a loon all the time."

Crouching just out of sight from a roof looking over the school yard, a shadowy form watched.

* * *

Ranma was returned back to his room before the period ended, much to his frayed nerves misery. The eyes that had watched him before didn't know what to think about their newest student, but after they saw him take Kuno out with one shot let alone leapt four stories high with a person in his arms, the rumor mill began to grind. It was picking up speed as the day wound down. 

"Mr. Saotome." Ranma jumped in his seat, which had been replaced since lunch. "Please come up to the front of the class, if you would."

Looking around the room as if unsure why he was picked instead of anyone else, Ramna stood slowly and walked to the front of the class. As he moved, many of the girls sighed or whispered to each other at how he moved. Many of the boys grit their teeth, seeing as all the attention of the fairer sex seemed to be drawn to the clueless boy.

The teacher was an older man for the last period, with thick glasses that looked to have been made from leer jet windshields.

"Now, Mr. Saotome, I understand that you have had a rough time being with your father." Ranma winced, looking at his feet. "I also understand that you are a trained martial artist that has been on a long training journey not only across Japan, but into parts of China as well." The girls whispered when they heard of his upbringing. "I, however, believe in treating each and every student as if they are the same, with no cushioning and no leniency."

Ranma winced as the teacher's voice took a harder edge, a memory beginning to play back in his mind as the old man continued. "Do you understand what I have told you?"

Ranma remembered the sound of the men around him, the soft murmurs playing over his body as he looked at his father, who was kneeling in front of him. Ranma looked to his left at the fighters and the spectators, sitting in their seats, the room was dark, just barely enough light to see into the pit where one big muscled man was waiting for him.

"Look at me, Saotome." The teacher grabbed hold of his chin and turned his face back to him.

"Look at me, Boy." Genma muttered as he turned Ranma's chin to him roughly. "Your size isn't going to help you if you get caught. Keep out of his range until he tries to attack you, and then use his attack to your advantage."

Ranma looked back at the man who was just staring at him, smiling darkly as he flexed his arms.

"You better win this time, boy, or I swear that the Neko-Ken training is going to look like a pipe dream." Genma gripped his shoulder hard, making him wince. "We don't have any money left, and if I have to leave you behind in another village to take the blame, then next time I'll let them hang you."

Ranma shivered as he looked at the man in the ring as the man started to laugh at him, seeing the fear on the child's face.

"Saotome." A voice called to him. "Saotome." The voice called louder, the hand on his shoulder gripping tighter.

"Mr. Saotome!" The teacher's voice broke through his daydream, bringing Ranma screaming back to the present as he leapt backwards and into the classroom door.

The teacher looked at him, confused as to his reaction. Ranma sweated hard, clear water running from his brow down across his face and cheeks, his eyes wild and unfocused. Feeling the need to flee, Ranma pulled at the door hard, ripping it from its frame and threw down on the ground hard before running off into the school.

He fled down the halls, not knowing where he was going or where he could be safe, but he needed to flee. They were calling to him again, loudly in his ears as he ran through the halls. He came to the stairs and froze, unsure as to where he should flee to. Up or down was the same to him, as long as he could escape. He heard steps coming from up and his decision was made for him as he jumped down the stairs, taking the flights one leap at a time.

He almost made it to the ground floor, until Kuno came from around the corner at the bottom, looking up in shock, then anger as he pulled for his boken. He almost got it out before Ranma stomped into his face, using the kendoist as a springboard to propel him down the hallway and toward the front doors.

Kuno managed to stay on his feet, pulling his boken free and giving chase after the boy who had offended him three times now. "Stay thy feet, foul sorcerer! You shall not flee me this time!" he shouted, charging head long after him.

Ranma didn't stop to open the doors with his hands or feet. Flinging his hand forward with a swiping motion, the doorway blew open into pieces that clattered to the ground. Ranma slipped briefly on the loose wood, taking a moment to balance himself before jumping outward and for the safety of the roofs.

Looking as if he would escape, a blur jumped from the top of the school and landed on the rising Saotome's head, pushing his jump downward and forcing him to land earlier than he expected.

"Well done, Sasuke!" Kuno shouted out as he closed into melee range, using the short slashing range of his sword to keep Ranma confined. If Ranma tried to back up, Kuno would rush him. If he tried to sidestep, the lightning quick jabs of the boken snapped out, hemming back in front of the angry kendoist. Giving no quarter to the terrified boy, he continued his relentless assault.

Ranma had literally no where to run to, his fear was blinding him to what was around him, so much so that he never thought of simply jumping away from the attacks. He could only back pedal, dodging the rapid fire thrusts that the kendoist was throwing at him. He was going to get hit again, he knew it in his heart, and the pain would come afterwards. Only this time the pain wouldn't stop with one blow, it would come again and again, getting worse and worse, just like…

His thoughts were cut as his foot tripped over something, his ankle hitting something that wouldn't budge when he hit it, causing hit to fall backwards and land roughly. He saw Kuno rear back his kendo stick with both hands, a mad glee on his face as he shouted, "I have you!"

He was hit in the stomach hard by a metal ball on a pole, knocking him back and away from Ranma. Looking up at where the weapon was thrown, Kuno called out, "Who would dare interrupt an…?" He thought he heard a bike's bell.

Kuno could only watch in a sick fascination as a ten-speed bike seemed to appear out of no where five feet in front of his face. It moved slowly through the air at him and his brain could only wonder as to how a bike could move so slowly and yet still stay in the air as it was. Something about this seemed familiar to him, but his brain scoffed at that. Surely he had never been hit with a bike before, it must only be his imagination.

His head snapped back as the tire wrapped around his head, meshing his chin, face, and upper head with the warped metal of the rim before Kuno fell backwards, unconscious.

Ranma wasted no time, scrambling onto his feet and turning away from the fallen Kuno, fleeing for his mortal life out of the school grounds and off into the streets of Nerima.

From where he stood landed a tall shadow with female features, lavender hair blowing lightly in the wind as she reached down and pulled her bonbori free from the ground where she had tossed it. Picking up the other one that had stunned the kendoist, she glared hotly down at him before turning her eyes after the fleeing boy. Jumping to the nearest roof, she gave chase.

* * *

"Father." Kasumi spoke softly, yet with a firm tone, firmer than she would normally use. 

Soun looked up from his newspaper, a cigarette hanging from his mouth as he looked to his eldest daughter. "Yes, Kasumi, what is it?"

Kasumi kneeled in front of her father, placing her hands before her and bowing deeply over her hands. "Please allow me to resume my training of the Anything Goes art." Kasumi spoke calmly, yet that firmness seeming to strengthen as she spoke.

Soun dropped the cigarette out of his mouth in surprise that his eldest daughter, the pacifist and homemaker, would want to continue the art. Exclaiming as the cigarette began to ignite his pants, Soun smacked it and the burning embers out on his leg before looking long and hard at Kasumi, who remained bowed in front of him.

Crossing his arms in front of him, he closed his eyes and spoke firmly. "No."

Kasumi sat up abruptly, snapping her head up at her father's announcement. "But father…"

"Before you ask me to change my mind, Kasumi, I want you to understand something." Soun spoke as he looked hard at his daughter. "The art of Anything Goes is an art of stealth, deception, and evasion. These skills taught to me and Genma are the primary tenets of Musabetsu Kakuto, the Anything Goes. Could you honestly, knowing full well of your skill once mastered, deceive anyone willfully and knowing that by doing so, you were denying them something important?"

Kasumi bit her lip and averted her gaze from her father.

Soun continued. "Good examples of what the Anything Goes can do to you are your sister and Genma." Soun let this sink in before continuing. "Your sister hates any boy of the age of fifteen to sixty, willfully labeling anyone who meets these criteria 'Pervert'. My best friend took his child from his mother, deceiving her, trained him in some of the worst examples of martial arts known to man, and beat him almost constantly. Is that the kind of art you really want to learn?"

"No father." Kasumi spoke sadly, her face hidden behind the locks of hair around her face as she tilted her head downward. "I just wished I could learn the art in order to understand Ranma more, but I guess I was wrong."

Soun gnawed at his lip as he looked at his daughter. "You've taken an interest in the young lad." It was an accusation, pure and simple. Kasumi didn't deny what her father said, so he continued. "Is it because you're worried about him, or because you want to help him?"

Kasumi looked sadly up into her father's face, eyes filled with unshed tears. "I read the Neko-Ken." She spoke sadly. Soun flinched, but said nothing. "I realized how little I understand about the art, any art, since mother…"

Kasumi inhaled, her breath shuddering as she breathed deeply.

"I want to do what is right, but I can't do that if I don't understand anything going on around me." Kasumi tucked her head, bringing her hands to her face as she cried into them. "I just want to help…"

The sound of something hitting the roof hard jarred them from their conversation. They moved to step outside only to see a shadow come appear above them, moving slowly forward before growing larger. The form the shadow belonged to landed softly in the grass, turning on his heel as he rushed for the living room. He jumped through the air, arms in front of him until he hit Kasumi mid-lunge and wrapped himself around her, pulling her down to the floor.

Kasumi goggled at Ranma's behavior, Soun staring worriedly at his daughter and then the boy clamped firmly around her waist. He was shivering uncontrollably, whimpering softly as he buried his head into her side. Kasumi cradled Ranma to her, stroking his hair and his back gently as she made a calming sound, attempting to get him to relax from his coiled spring position and sit up again. Kasumi looked up at her father with pleading eyes, whether to help her or something else, Soun thought long and hard as he watched the two.

"You stay with Ranma." Soun said as he stood up, heading for the kitchen. "I just hope everyone can deal with stir-fry tonight."

* * *

Nabiki walked into the house calmly, making a beeline for the living room instead of going directly to her room to change. She had heard from her people at school about the fight out front, Ranma's subsequent escape, and the mysterious female that seemed to have a hand in saving him. She couldn't find him anywhere in town and had her people still looking for her. If they found anything, they were to call her at home. 

Walking into a cuddle session with Kasumi and Ranma, Nabiki sighed. Kasumi looked up at her sister, gesturing with her finger to be silent before she looked back down at the dozing boy. "He arrived about thirty minutes ago, scared out of his mind." Kasumi whispered to a crouching Nabiki.

"I didn't hear about anything freaking him out at school." Nabiki whispered back, Ranma moaning in his sleep as he momentarily tightened his grip on Kasumi.

Nabiki pulled her mini camera out and was about to take a picture when Akane walked into the room. "What the hell do you think you're doing to my sister, you pervert?!?" the youngest Tendo shouted, book bag dropped so that she could get a two handed grip on her mallet.

Ranma bolted awake and immediately jumped behind Kasumi, crouching down behind her to make a smaller target.

"Akane! I just got him to sleep, too!" Kasumi was upset, outraged was a better word for it, but she didn't know if she could voice it right without it sounding silly.

"You make one swing in his direction, Akane, and I'll spread a rumor that you only hit people you like, and the harder you hit them, the more you like them." Nabiki practically hissed at her sister, sending blades of death from her eyes.

"You wouldn't dare." Akane glared hotly at Nabiki.

"Try me. It'll be the last time you cross me, I guarantee it." Nabiki sat, daring Akane to cross the proverbial line.

"What is going on out here?!" Soun boomed as he walked into the living/dining room from the kitchen, his Demon Head attack in full swing.

"Daddy, Nabiki's threatening me with a lie." Akane pointed her mallet toward Nabiki.

"She's being a spoiled little princess again." Nabiki pointed back, batting the mallet head away from her general vicinity.

Soun glared hotly at his two youngest daughters. "I'm glad your mother is dead. She would be ashamed of the both of you. I certainly am." His Demon Head attack subsiding, Soun gave them a disparaging look. Both of them looked at the floor guiltily, Akane's mallet disappearing out of sight the moment her anger died.

Taking the stir-fry pan to the table and setting it on a metal stand, Soun sat at the head of the table with a stern gaze directed at all of his children. "Nabiki, I would have thought that you would know better than to alienate your own family after that yakuza business." She winced while Akane smirked. "Akane, if I ever hear of you attacking Ranma in my house ever again, I will ban you from using the Anything Goes ever again."

Akane made to protest and Soun raised an eyebrow at her. She wisely kept quiet.

"Kasumi," she turned to face him properly, "I understand why you want me to teach you, but understand that I will not make the same mistake a second time, so please do not ask it of me." Giving him a hurt look, she nodded her head to him.

Nodding his head after he had spoken his peace, he looked around the dining room. "Where's Ranma?"

The girls blink blinked before looking to Kasumi's side. Where Ranma had been once he had been woken up, he had mysteriously disappeared from. Looking around the room and out in the yard resulted in nothing. Kasumi noticed him first from where she was standing in the kitchen, her eyes straying back across the dining room and at the table itself.

In his haste to escape Soun's all encompassing Demon Head, Ranma had managed to slide himself underneath the foot tall table and hid. Coming out to the table, Kasumi leaned down in front of Ranma's face, Soun's eyes bugging out as his daughter stuck her rear in the air at the table.

"It's alright, Ranma." Kasumi spoke to him sweetly, smiling gently at him. "The bad face went away. You can come out now."

Kasumi sat up slowly, much to the relief of her father only to have his eyes grow to saucers as he watched Ranma crawl out of a space that should have been physically too small for his boy form.

And his girl form for that fact.

Calling in his children after finding Ranma, they sat to a quiet dinner. Ranma looked around at each of them, their looks of tempered rage, open hostility, mild acceptance, and deep thinking on the faces of Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi, and Soun respectively. Ranma had heard them talking from under the table, and couldn't help but feel that he was the reason why everyone was upset.

"Ranma." Soun spoke to him, drawing his attention to him. "When you're done eating, meet me in the dojo.

Soun put his chopsticks down and headed for the walkway toward the dojo. He stopped in the hallway, looking over his shoulder. "I expect that we will not be disturbed. Am I making myself clear, girls?"

They eyed each other in confusion, momentarily putting aside their differences before acknowledging their father. Nodding his head, he walked out of the room and headed for the dojo.

Looking at the girls who were looking back at him, he asked softly, "Did I do something wrong?"

Nabiki twitched, the only sister to move as a shiver passed through her.

"You can actually talk?" Akane asked, unsure if her brain was playing tricks on her or not. Nabiki and Kasumi both gave her a disappointed look.

Tilting his eyes to his food in front of him, he placed his chopsticks on the table and stood up. If he had done something wrong, he didn't want to throw up anymore food than he had to, especially when he started getting hit in the stomach. He'd get beat even harder for wasting food.

He walked out to the dojo slowly, moving to the edge of the walkway before hopping down gently. His feet were cold as they moved across the stone path leading to the doorway and the stone steps that lead inside to the dojo. He slid the door open as silently as he could, watching as Mr. Tendo moved through a basic stance of Anything Goes, though he stopped once in awhile and changed his stance or arms.

Ranma kneeled by the doorway and waited for him to finish. He watched as the father flowed through a beginner's level kata of the school, only he changed it slightly, putting in a variation or an alteration as he restarted from the beginning over and over again. Ranma studied him intently, watching as he started over and over many times until he was satisfied and moved on to the next step of the kata.

"What do you think, Ranma?" Soun asked in the middle of his kata, as he continued to modify it over and over.

Ranma flinched. He'd never been asked his opinion before.

Soun saw the conflict in his face and stopped his kata, turning to Ranma with his hands on his hips. "I want to know if you think its Anything Goes or not."

Ranma tilted his head for a second before nodding.

"Is it the Anything Goes your father taught you?" Soun asked, not having moved from where he stood.

Ranma shook his head immediately.

"If I showed you how to do this, will you make me a promise?" Soun asked him, watching as Ranma nodded almost instantly. "Come here, son." Soun beckoned to Ranma, to which Ranma jumped to his feet before rushing in front of Soun and kneeled again.

Soun kneeled down in front of Ranma, meeting him eye to eye. "I want you to understand something before I ask you again, Ranma. I don't think you know what I'm trying to ask you." Soun settled himself, relaxing his body and his mind to show the boy no ill intend. "Kasumi came to me earlier today asking for me to teach her the Anything Goes."

He explained himself to Ranma about the conversation that he had with her, adding the details of her emotional state, how she reacted, even the question about if she cared for Ranma or not. He stopped to let the boy process all this before he could continue.

"Do you think I made the right choice, Ranma?" Ranma looked like he was going to freak out, but Soun rephrased himself, "Should I allow my oldest daughter to learn the Anything Goes?"

Ranma didn't hesitate, shaking his head emphatically no.

Soun sighed, a weight lifting off of his shoulders. "Still, she is my daughter, and I feel that I have to teach her some way to understand you better, even if the Anything Goes is not to be taught to her."

"You shouldn't." Ranma rasped. His throat hurt, his voice hadn't been used in so long, he must have talked a lot today as he cleared his throat. "I'm a stranger." Ranma coughed into his hand before continuing. "I'm not worth helping."

Soun stared at Ranma until Ranma couldn't maintain the gaze, turning his face down. "Son," Soun started, hesitating before continuing, "Kasumi is an important part of this household because she has sacrificed so much for all of us. She finished high school with no friends, and she never got the chance to date anyone her own age. At a very young age, she was forced to grow up too soon, becoming the mother for two sisters that didn't know how to live without one."

Soun turned to his wife's altar before he continued to speak. "I was devastated by my wife's passing. Unable to cope with the loss of the one person that made me whole, I closed in on myself and wanted to join her. It was watching Kasumi that made me realize that I was shaming my wife's memory the longer I made Kasumi shoulder more and more of the household. I didn't have a daughter the day she took up her responsibilities, I had a woman who was years older than she should have been.

"I want to give her something in return, the one thing that I can't give her." Soun said as he turned his moist eyes to Ranma, who looked even guiltier. "It may be the only wish I can ever grant my daughter, and atone for my ineptitude when she became the mother for Nabiki and Akane." Soun's face hardened as he took stock of himself and tightened his guard over his heart. "I am going to do something that will bring the wrath of my Master down on this house and my family. I know that you have a hard enough time defending yourself, but I want you to know that I don't think any less of you."

Ranma looked up at Soun with disbelief and a little fear. "If and when my Master comes, I would appreciate it if you could take my children and flee with them. My master is much like your father, except that he is much worse. Far worse than Genma ever was." Ranma blanched at the thought of someone worse than Genma. "I will not be able to stop my master, he has spent years creating Anything Goes and is the founder of the art. I will lose, and lose badly.

"If I teach you this, you must promise me that you will flee with them and not come back." Soun looked firmly into Ranma's eyes, gauging the boy's morals.

Ranma thought long and hard about this. His father had always told him that any new techniques he could learn, he should learn them immediately then run for the hills once he had learned all that he could, or once his father had upset the head of the dojo. This time, he was being asked by the head of not only the house he was allowed to live in, but the dojo he would possibly train in to run away if it was necessary.

Ranma took a breath and gulped deeply before he looked Soun in the eye and nodded. Soun stared at him hard for a moment before nodding and relaxing himself from his rigid pose. "Now I can explain to you what I intend to do." He sighed as he ended one life in himself before opening his eyes and regarded Ranma. "I am sealing the original Anything Goes I was taught by the master. By doing so, I intend to create a new form of Anything Goes from it, a form that is honorable to use and does not lead down the dark aspects of what the original did."

Ranma nodded as Soun stood, motioning Ranma to stand. "I will teach you all I know of my school before I seal the arts, never to be used again. You will be my only graduate of Tendo Ryu. Once you have mastered my school's art, I want you to help me create Shin Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu."

Taking a shoulder width stance, hands in front of him and fists at his waist, Ranma bowed forward, head bowed before Soun.

* * *

That night, the house slept peacefully. For once, Soun could sleep with no worries for his children. Although Ranma was a troubled individual, it seemed as if he had imprinted on them, making them his surrogate family. He had no doubts that he would protect them no matter what. 

Kasumi slept as well, though her sleep was not as restful as it could have been. Still, she dreamt of learning her family's art from her father, being allowed not only to be the home maker, but home defender as well. She imagined in her dream the things she could do to fend off those who would invade the sanctity of her house, and what she would do to Mr. Saotome if she ever saw him again.

Nabiki slept in her own world of dreams as well, peacefully content after so many years. She got to dream of a dark haired man who loved her for who she was, uncaring what others said about her. They would whisper sweet nothings in each other's ears, letting their love develop and grow as they learned of each other. She would lean in close to him, her eyes closed as she could feel his breath against her lips before…

Well, you get the idea.

Akane slept her own peaceful dreams as well, though for different reasons. Though she had been banned from striking the young Saotome in her father's house, she had not been told she could not strike him outside of the house. She dreamt of how she would make the pervert pay for taking advantage of her sweet, innocent sister and of how she would get even with her more nefarious sister. She giggled softly to herself at the malleting that would make her and Mallet-sama very happy

Ranma slept in his room, his head filled with what he had been told by Mr. Tendo. It was a big task he was being given, something he felt that he had no right accepting. He had given his word though, the one thing his father couldn't take away from him, no matter how hard he had tried. He made a promise, and he would not break his promise.

Just like the promise to his childhood friend.

While the house slept, a shadow crawled up to Ranma's window and gazed in from outside. The form was the same from the school, the lavender hair of the girl barely seen in the darkness. She watched the boy who slept for once in peaceful dreams, not the twisting and turning she had watched from the days she had tracked them in her home land.

Here was a man she could love, a man who was every bit her better and then some. She could make him want to come back with her, it wouldn't take much. Only one person had opposed her, and hopefully she had time enough to do what needed to be done. If she could before they arrived, there was very little they could do about it.

Sliding away from the window and off into the night, she made her plans.

* * *

**Seems some people shouldn't be allowed to roam around at night on their own, the little peeping tom's. No sign of Genma in this chapter, and I couldn't be happier. I think everyone whose sent me a review has the same opinion.**

**Genma Saotome Must Die!**

**I know you guys all hate him and stuff for what he did to Ranma, but having him murdered for what he did is just too easy for the guy. As the old saying goes, You reap what you sow, and the reaping has just begun.**

**I think this chapter was a lot lighter than the last three, except for that bit with Ranma's past. If it wasn't, let me know. Can't do better if I don't get opinions, and I know you guys are gonna be honest with me, right?**

**Demon Head: A specialty branch of the Tendo school of Anything Goes martial arts, this maneuver is not so much an attack as it is a paralyzing maneuver. By focusing one's spirit energy (ki/chi) into the face, one can project a sense of terror and confusion, temporarily causing the person/s who sees this technique to freeze in fear. A fatal drawback to the technique is that it is a visually based attack. If you don't see it, it doesn't work.**

**Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu: Literally translated, it means School of Indiscriminate Grappling, other wise known as Anything Goes. The branches of the school were seperated into three parts, Ganso Musabetsu Kakuto, Musabetsu Kakuto Saotome Ryu, and Musabetsu Kakuto Tendo Ryu. The Tendo version of the art was made to take on many enemies at once in melee combat, designed to inflict indiscriminate damage on anything that got close to the practicioner. The Saotome version was designed around the art of one on one combat, disabling a single person within seconds of combat being joined and moving on to the next foe. Ganso Musabetsu Kakuto means Founding school of Anything Goes and is believed to be the originator of both versions of Musabetsu Kakuto. However, no records indicate that anyone still alive practices this art in any form.**


	5. Attack of the Foot Tall Amazon

**If you've seen the anime or the manga, this is definitely not how it went down, but seeing as how it's my story, I thought this was some poetic justice. Still, for all of those who thought that Shampoo was acting all nice and stuff, I'm about to burst your bubble.**

**Disclaimer: I could put into Haiku, Tanka, or various different ways of Stanza how this is not mine. I'm not going to, so there. Rumiko Takahashi, gomen nasai**

* * *

His head throbbed like he'd been clubbed by the master again. Shaking his head from side to side quickly, he looked at where he was at. His stomach rumbled, meaning he had been out for a while, maybe longer. He looked around, his eyes coming into focus as he pushed his glasses further up on the bridge of his nose. 

It looked to be some alley, fairly small one and obviously not something a person would cut down to get some place else. He picked himself up out of the crater, changing his plans for the moment as he readjusted his gi around himself. First, he'd stop off and get some food, then go after the boy. The things he was going to do to him for the pain he'd gone through.

And for all the missed food too.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" a old and cracked voice spoke from above Genma, making him freeze where he stood, a look of surprise on his face as he started to sweat. "We've been looking for you for a long time, Genma Saotome."

Looking above him as if to prove it was only his mind playing tricks on him, he tried to perceive who had spoken if only to prove they weren't there. Standing with the sun behind them, only the shadow of a large cane with something that vaguely looked like a gnarled dwarf peered down at him.

* * *

"Sasuke!" Kuno bellowed as he stormed into his large house, the front doors echoing through the hall. Having recovered from his encounter of the two wheeled kind, he had brought himself home. Strangely enough, Sasuke, loyal manservant of the Kuno family and Estate did not bring him home, like he should have. 

"Sasuke! Where are you?" Kuno whipped his head around, looking around the foyer for his manservant.

"Having trouble locating something, brother dear?" A girl with a long black ponytail tied on one side of her head was leaning against the doorway leading into the hallway wearing the blackest of leotards with a black rose embroidered on the side that covered half of her body.

"That manservant, Sasuke, is missing again!" Kuno spat, crossing his arms and tapping his foot even as he waited for said person to appear.

"Here you are, Milady." A very short man dressed in a dark gray ninja outfit appeared out of the air with his head wrapped in a purple kerchief that left his face exposed. Strangely enough, he looked to have facial markings on his cheeks that looked like whiskers. The only thing that could be said when you looked at his face was that he was very mouselike.

Not thanking the little man as he handed over a ribbon attached to a handle, the woman rewound the ribbon to her liking before she walked past her brother.

"And where, pray tell, are you off to at this late an hour, my dear sister?" The voice Kuno used was less than caring, but there were some things family was expected to show, like an attempt at caring.

"I have business to attend to." The girl said, pulling on a long cape that hid her all the way to her toes before she pulled the hood up over her head. "I would request that you keep your nose out of my business, dear brother. You know what happened last time."

Leaving out of the front door that was still swinging on its hinges, she disappeared off into the dimming night. The short man, Sasuke, used lightning speed to close one door and then the other before kneeling beside Kuno. "You bellowed, Master Kuno?"

He was rewarded with a bop to the head.

"You are my manservant, Sasuke." Kuno nearly growled, glaring angrily down at the manservant. "You are supposed to drop everything and come to me when I am calling for you."

"Forgive me, Master Kuno." Fake tears running from his eyes at his shame. "I did not want to be another test subject of Milady Kodachi's poisons again."

Kuno stood up, folding his arms as he glared down at his manservant. "From now on, your personal safety comes second when it involves my humiliation. Where were you when I had been kno-…I mean, fell asleep on the school grounds?"

"Fell asleep, Master Kuno?" Sasuke looked confused. "You had the boy well in hand, so much so that I left in assurance, believing you to come out the victor?"

"And because you left, I was waylaid by a ten-speed bike and brought to my knees, allowing that vile sorcerer to escape!" Sasuke received another bonk on the head.

"Forgive my assumptions, Master Kuno. I didn't know." Sasuke bowed his head, taking the shot easily.

"Never mind that." Kuno shrugged off this little set back. "I want you to go to the Tendo dojo and find out his weakness. Return only when you have found out what that may be."

"Right away, Master Kuno." Sasuke seemed to jump into the air and disappear from sight.

"And while you're at it…" Kuno continued.

"Yes Master Kuno?" Sasuke seemed to appear from out of nowhere, now behind Kuno.

"Make sure to get more of those pictures of the beauteous Akane Tendo." Kuno's eyes seemed to glaze over as he dreamed of the very woman he had spoken of.

"Right Away." Sasuke disappeared again.

* * *

_/the spy's eyes don't lie/_

* * *

It had nearly been a full day, Sasuke had the pictures that his Master wanted, but he couldn't return home yet. Ordered not to return home until he had found the boy's weakness out, he had tracked and followed him all around Nerima and into the Tendo house. It had been hard going, he never left anyone's side for very long. Trying to keep close enough to overhear anything and watch him at the same time was trying his ninja skills to their utmost. 

He was watching them from a tree in the Tendo yard when it happened. A purple haired girl jumped up onto the outer wall of the compound that surrounded the small lot of the house. Watching as she jumped down into the yard by the koi pond, he watched as the Tendo family and the pigtailed boy appeared from the living room.

* * *

Soun stared at the foreign girl. She wore a pink dress that barely made it to her mid thigh, a Chinese symbol embroidered over her considerable bust and dark purple baggy pants that were tied off at the ankles and waist. The condition of her dark slippers were immaculate, even though she had apparently just jumped onto the wall and then into the yard. 

Unperturbed to be staring down the family of Tendo's and Ranma, she placed an animal carrying case down next to her and crossed her arms in front of herself.

"Anyone wanna tell me why a girl just jumped into our yard from the back alley?" Akane asked, staring at Nabiki for all the answers.

Strangely enough, the answer came from Ranma. "Xian Pu." He muttered, staring at the girl with a glassy look in his eyes. Everyone turned to look at him, though he jumped down from the step and took a few steps forward.

The girl he called Xian Pu raised her hand at him, preventing him from coming closer as a breeze blew across the grounds. She shouted clearly in Chinese, pointing at Ranma as she spoke a few quick sentences.

Ranma watched her, not moving or saying a word.

The girl said a few more words in Chinese, pointing to the dojo. Her maroon eyes watched him carefully as he turned toward the dojo before turning back at her. "I don't want to fight you, Xian Pu." Ranma spoke in Chinese, making the Tendo's look at each other in confusion.

"You don't have a choice." Xian Pu spoke in her native tongue, crossing her arms in front of herself. "Your father ate my first prize and ran off with you. You are his son, and thus, demanded upon to take up his honor in his place."

Ranma grimaced. "Is there nothing I can do?" He asked, still in Chinese.

"Ranma," Nabiki called to him, making him turn around and look at the Tendo's, "What's going on? Do you know that girl?"

"She wants to fight me." Ranma said as he turned back to the girl in question. "What are the rules for the fight?" Ranma asked, reverting back to Chinese.

"The rules are easy." The girl smiled, her maroon eyes flashing as she let her arms fall to her sides. "If you beat me, your honor is fulfilled and I will go back to my village. If you lose, then you must come back to the village and take the punishment your father would have gotten in his place."

Ranma didn't know what to do. He didn't want to fight her, yet this girl wouldn't go away unless he did. She had shown up a long time ago when they had still been in China. They had escaped some two weeks before she appeared, appearing next to him in the middle of the night while his father slept. She had offered to get him away from his father and take him back to those who would take care of him.

At the time, he didn't know her from anyone else in China. Better the demon you know than the one you don't.

Turning to the Tendo's, Ranma said, "She's looking for my father and can't find him. She says she'll go away if I fight her."

"That isn't necessary." Soun said. "Your father went home with your mother."

Ranma shook his head. "I bet if you were to talk to her, she won't be able to find him."

Kasumi looked at Ranma's face set in a sad grimace before looking at her father. "I'll call auntie Saotome." She turned to Ranma. "Please invite her in until I call your mother."

Kasumi stepped out into the foyer and made the necessary call, hoping that Mrs. Saotome would pick the phone up. The phone only rang one time before someone picked up. "Genma, I swear to Kami that you'd better not be in jail." Mrs. Saotome's voice growled across the receiver.

Kasumi's heart dropped. "Auntie Saotome, this is Kasumi."

She heard someone clearing their voice on the other end. "Hello, dear. Is there something I can help you with?" the now very calm Mrs. Saotome spoke on the other end.

"I was looking for your husband, but I guess Ranma knew his father better than we'd hoped." Kasumi said, her voice turning sad as she finished. "There's a young girl here looking for your husband, she seems to want him very badly. Bad enough to fight Ranma about it." She actually didn't know why the young girl was looking for Genma, but there had to be a good reason for it.

"There's someone there going to fight my son? And she's a woman?" Kasumi didn't know if Nodoka was thrilled to hear that, or was concerned by the mixture in the woman's voice.

"Yes, apparently, she is very mad at your husband." Kasumi said, looking over her shoulder as Nabiki walked up behind her from the hallway. Kasumi shook her head toward Nabiki, giving her a signal that Genma wasn't there.

Nabiki frowned before turning around and heading back to the living room.

"I'm sorry, Auntie, but I have to go and make sure that Ranma will be alright." Kasumi said, trying to be polite while on the phone.

"Nodoka seemed to understand, "Of course you do, dear. A good woman would want to make sure that their man was in his best condition." Kasumi winced, though she did have a light blush on her cheeks. "I'll talk to you soon if I find anything out about Genma, and you do the same, o.k.?"

"You'll be the first person I call, Auntie." Saying her good-byes, she sighed as she hung the phone up. Just because she was worried about Ranma didn't exactly make him her man. Although, the though of taking care of Ranma wasn't too hard to imagine. Wiping that thought out of her head, she made her way to the living room first before heading to the dojo where everyone was beginning to congregate to.

* * *

Following the family had been far easier than he had imagined. Whatever the girl and the boy had discussed in their foreign language, everyone was focused on the lavender haired girl and the pigtailed boy as they headed for the dojo. Waiting until the last person came out of the house and into the dojo, Sasuke jumped down to the ground, rushed to the outside walls of the dojo then jumped up under the eaves to peer into one of the windows. What he saw, he was not prepared for.

* * *

Ranma stood at the far end of the dojo near the shrine of the Tendo daughter's mom. Ranma wasn't watching her, but was instead quietly praying to the shrine with his head down, hoping the Kami would hear him and help him in this fight. 

There must have been a Kami listening to Ranma's prayer, too bad it was a Kami of cruel irony and gags.

"What are you doing with that?" Akane asked in a skeptical tone, making Ranma look over his shoulder.

He freaked out almost immediately, slamming into the wall next to the shrine hard enough to jostle the shrine next to him.

Xian Pu had pulled out from the carrier a small toy cat with fake fur. Petting the cat once to make sure the mechanical parts activated and it meowed in its pre-recorded voice, she looked at Ranma with a cruel smile on her face. She didn't go back to her village after she had found the girl, instead had followed her until they had come to a small farm house near the city of Shanghai. She had seen how the girl had been changed back into a man before he began working in the barn for food.

It was at the time he had gone into the barn that all hell had broken loose with a yell. Busting through one of the barn walls and racing for the sun, Ranma had somehow managed to get a cat attached to his leg. The cat must have been trying to assert its dominance as all males do, and Ranma had freaked out at the contact or the act, but the damage was one to be remembered. He had tore through the farmer's house, the barn a second time, a cliffside, through the small reservoir of dammed water that would sluice down a hill for irrigation, and finally through a thicket of trees.

The cat, finally spent from its exertions, jumped off of Ranma and let him flee as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Ranma kept running and didn't look back.

"Ranma, what's wrong?" Nabiki asked before looking at Xian Pu and what she was holding a lot closer. It was definitely fake, there was no denying it. It was a badly stitched together toy she had seen in the local market for a few hundred yen, a really old toy cat that no one wanted anymore. It didn't click in her head, but Soun caught on to what was happening.

"That's not fair, he's deathly afraid of cats!" Soun shouted, the lights going on behind Nabiki's eyes and bringing Kasumi's attention to what was going on as she entered the dojo at just that moment.

Xian Pu pulled her cloth belt free from her waist and tied one end under the toy's neck, the other to her left hand as she eyed Ranma. She began to spin the toy on the cloth, making the length larger as she let it slide outward. Ranma watched the circling toy as if his life depended on it.

She snapped her arm forward, making the cat go to the left, but close enough to make it look like she was trying to hit Ranma. Ranma reacted expectedly to a feline, alive or not, trying to come at him as he jumped to the right. The girl, expecting his dodge, had moved in while the toy was still flying.

Ranma saw her coming and tried to avoid the punch, catching it in the shoulder instead of the chest where it would have hurt more. Still, pinned to the wall and punched from the front, it hurt a lot already. As the toy hit the wall, the sound of an slightly garbled meow resounded from it, causing Ranma to claw the floor as he scrambled from under Xian Pu.

He didn't get far as she drove a knee into the small of his back, quickly followed by an elbow to the back of his knee. Flipping the cat forward on its improvised rope, she made it smack into the floor mere inches in front of Ranma's head. Ranma tried crawling backwards only to have Xian Pu stomp into his other shoulder before dropping down on his back and locking in a choke hold on his neck.

Ranma bucked and managed to get to his knees before his fear drenched adrenaline boosted him to his feet and turned him around, Xian Pu locking her heels inside Ranma's thighs. With the toy shaped like a cat out of sight, Ranma could focus on the choke that was already starting to make his eyes go all spotty. She squeezed harder, feeling Ranma dig into her hands and then arms, not giving him anything to use to pry her free from around him.

Kasumi watched fearfully, unable to help Ranma in his fight. What was going on was a matter of honor, it would hurt him more if she helped than if she stood back and rooted for him. Nabiki wasn't the same mind, seeing as using a cat shaped toy was cheating and way below the belt. Unfortunately, she knew her limits and wasn't about to go up against a woman who looked like she knew how to fight and then some.

Akane was rooting for the amazon, clearly this woman knew how to fight by any means necessary. She'd want a go at the amazon herself after this fight was over.

Soun sat and watched with a grim look on his face. Although it was low using that toy against Ranma, it wasn't wrong of her to do it. If you could exploit an enemy's weakness, anyone would want to so that the fight ended that much faster, it was a practical combat tactic. He only hoped that Ranma would win, otherwise Ranma couldn't be around to help him.

Unable to break her grasp with just his hands, Ranma used his elbow and short checked the girl in her side. Grabbing at the foot on his right with his left hand, he took hold of her hands and pulled upward, turning his head to the side so his chin wouldn't help lock her in on him. She came off of him roughly, the lock on his neck barely broken and dragging hard on his face as he used her arms and threw her over him.

Unfortunately as soon as she was slammed into the ground in front of him, the cat hit him in the back of the head.

She was slightly stunned and out of breath, but she heard the scream of terror and reacted. Bracing her hands on the floor, she kicked upward, catching Ranma in the stomach and preventing him from taking another breath soon after his scream died out.

He had tried to run over Xian Pu to get away from the cat only to get caught by her leg. Unable to maintain his balance after the near choke out and now from the hard blow to his stomach, he collapsed forward onto his hands and knees.

Overtop of Xian Pu. This wouldn't have been so bad if Akane had not been there.

As Ranma collapsed, Kasumi winced and turned her head. Nabiki had winced as well but muttered an oath afterward as she turned to her younger sister. Akane was glowing bright red and steam was pouring out of her head as her battlecry/holy chant came from her mouth, her legs already pushing her forward.

Ranma had just enough time to realize he was in a compromising position before an object that hit him from the side knocked him off of Xian Pu and into the wall of the dojo nearest the door. His head rung like a gong going off if the gong was the size of Tokyo Tower. His eyes were bleary and he was weak of knee, though he crawled weakly for the dojo door. He needed to escape if he could.

The sound of wood pogoing off stone outside the dojo didn't do anything for his head and the sight that greeted him as he came around the door frame was even worse. A shrunken old freeze dried monkey in a green dress and eyes as big as saucers stared at him as if surprised to see him. He had time to acknowledge all of this before he collapsed to the ground, unable to stay conscious any longer.

* * *

Kasumi and Nabiki ran for the boy even as Soun turned on his youngest child. Snatching the mallet from her hands, he shouted in her face, "What in Kami's name do you think you're doing?!" 

Akane cringed fearfully from her father as he hovered over top of her. "You saw what he did! He was taking advantage of that girl!" Akane said, pointing to the nearly recovered lavender haired girl.

Soun stared blankly at her and her narrow-mindedness before he sighed greatly and shouldered her mallet. Staring balefully down at his youngest daughter, he spoke evenly at her. "You are forbidden to ever again use the Anything Goes in my house or anywhere."

He turned his back on her, unwilling to punish her any further and totally missing the heartbroken look on her face.

"It looks like I got here just in time." An aged and raspy voice spoke in the dojo as it pogoed to the top of the outside steps.

Kasumi was blocking the entrance as she turned Ranma over gently, Nabiki eyeing the aged…thing sitting on top of the cane. Soun walked over and stood overtop of his eldest daughters. "And you are?" Soun asked, making sure to be prepared for anything.

"I am Kuh Lon of the Joketsuzoku amazons." She looked past Soun at the lavender haired girl who was trying to hide herself behind him. "I see you have met my great granddaughter already."

Soun and Nabiki eyed the lavender haired girl who was staring a hole into the floor, hoping it would swallow her up.

Shaking her head at her great granddaughter, she looked down at the unconscious boy, noting the collar around his neck. "I think we should adjourn to the house, we have much to discuss." Kuh Lon spoke deferentially, offering a place to speak instead of directing.

* * *

"So, you're both from a village of amazons in the bayankala mountain range in the Qinghai province." Soun asked, thinking he was getting this all down correctly. 

The old woman nodded at this, barely tall enough to see over the table from where she stood, cane held at the base by one gnarled hand. "We have been in search of Genma Saotome for some time, but never did I expect to find a son instead of a daughter." Kuh Lon shook her head slowly. "It would have changed much in how we handled this misadventure."

"If you could, we'd like to hear what happened from you, if you don't mind." Nabiki asked politely, wanting some background information to put to what was going on around here.

Eyeing her wayward great grandchild with a hard stare, she nodded and thought back. "It was about one month ago to the day…"

* * *

At the gates to the village, unaware of a great tournament was in the process of wrapping up stood three men, one dressed in the greens of the old Chinese military with the red star on his hat, one giant panda standing on two legs holding the leash of a red haired girl that stood behind all three of them. 

"And here, sirs, we come to home of amazon woman's." The Chinese man in the old greens of his homeland presented the other two as if he was some old tour guide. The fact that he looked nearly 40 and was very pudgy added to it.

The panda took one look around and dismissed all of the woman watching the fighting duo on the log with a snort before turning his eyes to the table laden with food.

"Oh, sirs, you very lucky." The fat Chinese man said as he took a pipe out from his pocket and lit it, watching the fighting taking place in mid-air. "They holding special contest to see who is champion of village this year. Very great honor to watch."

If it was, both Ranma and Genma weren't paying any attention. Ranma stayed right where the leash had been let go at whereas Genma in his panda form had rushed over to the table and began to gorge himself on the feast. There was a cheer as the larger of the two was knocked off balance to fall off the log and to the ground below with stars dancing before her eyes. The women watching raised their weapons and rattled their swords to celebrate the victor.

The woman on the log, the lavender haired girl waved to all until she turned her gaze to the table, her face changing from pleased to incredulous. All the amazons seem to realize that something was wrong and turned to look to see what had caught their champion in such a state only to see a panda pigging himself out on the banquet. The Chinese guide seemed to also realize what the panda was doing, looking at him with a calm eye as if to say 'I don't know that idiot'.

Next to the table, written in Chinese, a sign read 'First Prize'.

When the noise died down, the panda seemed to realize that he was the center of attention for a whole lot of hostility. Turning his gaze to look blankly at the people, a large sweatdrop formed on his head as he saw all the battle auras springing up around the women one at a time. The only thing that probably saved him from an imminent and painful death was that he pulled a sign out that read 'Thanks for the Meal' before jumping up and grabbing hold of Ranma's leash.

Pulling Ranma along as if she was a kite on a string, they disappeared out the village gate while the villagers where still trying to get over the fact that a panda had not only communicated with them via a sign, it had thanked them for its meal.

Kuh Lon, one of the many elders and leaders of the Joketsuzoku amazons approached the guide who was, by this time, sweating bullets. "Would you mind explaining to me how a panda can communicate like a human being?"

* * *

_/it wasn't too bad, I just expected better/_ _

* * *

_

"Once the guide explained that the panda and his child had been cursed by Jusenkyo, we sent out a hunting party to track down the panda and find him so that we could bring him back for justice." Kuh Lon finished, looking at her great granddaughter with some suspicion. "Although once my great granddaughter had found them, I believe she took it into her head to try to get herself married."

Kasumi's hair toinged visibly while Nabiki arched an eyebrow. Soun merely took on a boggled expression as he stared at the shrunken mum…I mean, elder of her village. Akane scowled at the lavender haired girl. She wanted to get married to a pervert?

"Marriage at her age?" Nabiki asked, which brought the elder's eye to her.

"It's not so hard to understand." Kuh Lon started to explain. "Our village was once great, but due to fighting with our hated enemies, the Musk tribe, we have been slowly whittled down to just barely over one hundred warriors strong. The problem being is that we are such strong warriors that we find it hard to marry."

"Hard to marry?" Soun asked lightly. A few words said together in front of many people in front of the family altar and you were married, how hard could it be?

"Our laws state that for us to marry someone, we must be defeated in combat." Kuh Lon eyed her great granddaughter once again, who cringed in on herself.

"Wait a minute." Nabiki said, raising her hand up to stop everything. "I thought that if he defeated her, she'd have to go back to the village, no questions asked."

"I'm afraid that was for her benefit in the long run, a win-win situation." Kuh Lon said, not looking happy that her great granddaughter had tried something so underhanded. "She probably saw Ranma as a skilled martial artist and wanted to lose against him, whether by actual hit or design."

"He is skilled martial artist." The lavender haired girl spoke in broken and badly inflected Japanese, proving she could actually speak their language. "Shampoo watch as man break many thing, all without hurting self. Is why Shampoo use cat."

At the mention of cat, Ranma sprung from a prone position to hanging from the ceiling, facing the floor. He looked around the room as only a paranoid person could.

"Seems Ranma's awake now." Nabiki commented, wondering how he was holding onto a flat surface from a hanging position without putting his fingers or toes through the roof.

"Deadly fear of cats, I see." Kuh Lon muttered aloud as she detailed the skill it took to spring from the floor flat on your back to turn in mid air and grip the ceiling with just the pads of foot and hand.

"The Neko-Ken will do that to a person." Soun muttered darkly, getting Kuh Lon's attention as her eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Who taught him the Neko-Ken?" she spoke softly, betting she knew that answer already.

"We assume it was his father." Kasumi answered for her, looking shamed faced, though for who knows why. "We found the training manual for the skill in one of the packs they brought here."

Kuh Lon turned to her great granddaughter quickly, leaping up and bonking her on the head with her cane hard enough to hear an echo. "You could have gotten us all killed!" Kuh Lon shouted at her in Chinese

"He would have defeated me after long." Xian Pu responded in her native dialect, rubbing the bump on her head. "All he would have had to do was take a swipe at me and I would have fallen over! You didn't have to follow me!"

Kuh Lon hit her harder on the head this time, making her see stars. "The Cat Fist can kill you with a swipe, idiot child! It's ki claws can shred the best swords with no resistance and at fifty feet without trying! How would you have survived that?"

"Besides," Kuh Lon returned to talking Japanese, "who said I was following you anyways?"

"You came to Japan looking for someone?" Soun asked, curious as to what would bring an elder from her tribe.

Kuh Lon nodded. "I found Genma Saotome earlier today and gave him a punishment for the way he arrived at our town, eating the first prize, and then running off with his son."

With no mention of cats recently, Ranma fell from the ceiling, sitting between Nabiki and Kasumi looking deathly afraid. Nabiki and Kasumi both gave him a hand to hold to calm him, though Akane glared hotly at him for it.

"May I ask what the punishment was?" Kasumi inquired, wondering as to how people delivered punishment. She'd never done it before, but she may need to learn how if Genma ever came back. Maybe making him sit in a corner for an hour.

"It's usually bad practice to tell people about someone's problem, but I think Genma deserves to have it rubbed in some, wouldn't you?" Kuh Lon smiled darkly, her face looking more hideous as she grinned. "I hit a special spot on his body, a pressure point called the full body cat's tongue." Ranma shivered at the name of the technique. "It will allow him to remain human up until he turns into his cursed form. Now you do know that water has to be a certain temperature to change back, yes?"

When everyone nodded, she continued. "The pressure point I hit makes the person's whole body as sensitive as a cat's tongue. The water temperature then becomes too hot for those who are cursed, making it impossible to change back into their normal forms without having the pressure point reversed."

"Please say there's no cure." Nabiki asked, hoping beyond hope that the fat fool would be stuck as a panda for the rest of his life.

"Sadly, yes, there is a cure." Kuh Lon sighed, bowing her head. "In case someone was to show that they had learned their lesson, then a cure had to be made. It is a simple pill, called a Phoenix Pill. The pills are hard to come by and the ingredients are very rare, but once a pill is made, they are practically good forever." Kuh Lon smiled wickedly once more. "I have one left, but unfortunately, I left it in China."

The sound of something bouncing along the roof and falling off to hit flatly into the ground got the household's attention as a giant panda came rolling off the roof.

"Do panda's fall from the sky often here in Japan?" Kuh Lon asked happily, knowing that Genma couldn't do a thing to her without being hurt.

Jumping to its feet, Genma Panda glared hotly at Kuh Lon before turning the heat up as he shifted people. Ranma shifted nervously where he sat, feeling the sheer malice flowing from his father before the panda turned, jumped over the koi pond, then leapt to the wall and to the roof across the street before running off. Kuh Lon looked curiously at Ranma as Ranma shivered.

"It seems he doesn't like you very much, boy." Kuh Lon spoke with an enigmatic tone. Ranma simply stared harder down at his hands, trying not to cry.

"In any event, we have troubled you enough for the day." Kuh Lon said as she shifted herself, prodding her great granddaughter to get up. "Thank you for the tea and for your time, it was most pleasant."

"Thank you, Elder." Soun said from the head of the table, bowing in the old ghoul's direction. "Could we offer you a room for the night?"

Kuh Lon watched the hopeful look in her great granddaughter's eyes. "I'm afraid not, I'm sad to say. My great granddaughter and I need to have a heart to heart talk tonight before we head back to China. Xian Pu, we're leaving."

Kuh Lon took one mighty leap, leaping out from the walkway all the way to the roof on the far side of the street, Xian Pu taking off after her but only leaping from the wall to the roof where the old woman had landed at. They turned once, looking to the household before leaping away into the night.

"Oh my, I didn't get to cook anything for dinner." Kasumi said as she jumped up from where she was sitting, heading into the kitchen.

Ranma watched her disappear into the kitchen before looking at Nabiki and let go of her hand, following Kasumi into the kitchen. She turned, noticing Ranma in the doorway and gave him a soft smile. "Do you want to help, Ranma?" Receiving a nod, she smiled even brighter as her chest grew warm. "I'm just going to throw a few things together. If you like, you can help me with the ingredients."

Smiling brighter than anyone had seen from Ranma, he walked over and stepped up to the cutting board and waited for Kasumi to hand him something. Laying some vegetables in the sink, she turned on the water. Kasumi didn't believe what she saw when the faucet shot a jet of cold water that ricocheted out of the sink and right into Ranma's face, inducing the change, especially when she had turned on the hot water faucet.

"Oh, Kami, I'm so sorry Ranma." Kasumi turned the faucet off, reaching for a towel that was hanging off of a small rack in front of the sink. Dabbing at Ranma's face with the towel, Kasumi despaired that Ranma was going to think badly of her. She took the towel from Kasumi's hands rubbing at her own face before walking passed Kasumi and headed upstairs.

Feeling upset, she turned back to the sink and turned the hot water faucet on. The water that came out of it was normal and hot this time.

* * *

Changing from one cheongsam to another, Ranma-chan headed back toward the stairs and the kitchen. Walking past Nabiki's room she heard muttering coming from the slightly open doorway. She peered into her room and looked as Nabiki sorted through a stack of photos before writing some notations into a notebook. Making a disgusted noise, Nabiki slapped her book closed and turned for the door. 

Ranma jumped up and gripped the ceiling with his fingers and toes, watching as Nabiki came out of her room, closed her door then headed downstairs. Landing softly back in front of the doorway, she watched as Nabiki went downstairs before opening the door to her room and walked inside.

Nabiki's room could be stated in just one word, Frugal. No knickknacks or jewelry boxes in her room, one or two pieces of make up sat with a slight cover of dust on a bookshelf filled with business management books and accountant records. Ranma didn't waste time looking at anything else in the room, walking over to the book that had been left on Nabiki's table and opened it. She didn't understand the most of it, but she did understand that it was about money, some things were notated for food and supplies while others went toward house and repair.

Ranma took a look at a few scattered pictures on the desk, pictures of Akane staring back at her in various poses, and clothes. In fact, there was a page bookmarked with an Akane picture, though Nabiki was standing next to her in it with a smile on her face she hadn't really seen on her before. It was a look that didn't have the wrinkles around her eyes that she did now.

Looking at all the pictures sitting before her and the numbers on the pages that refered to picture sales, Ranma looked around till her eyes fell on the head of the bed. Sitting on the small table with her alarm clock and lamp was a camera with a timer on it. Making sure that no one was coming, Ranma took the camera and left the room.

* * *

Nabiki sent the pictures into the photo center via her usual ways. She didn't want to imagine having to take any worse pictures than the occasional Akane working out or dressed prettily in the house where people normally didn't see her at, but it was always a possibility. There were plenty of less than reputable people who would buy some smuttier pics, not of Akane of course, but there were pictures that could be taken.

Coming back from school, she picked the packet out of the mail and slid it into her book bag, preparing it for tomorrow's sales. She didn't have to look at them, she knew all the pictures that had been on her camera. She took them herself, after all.

The day had gone slowly, the books weren't balancing right now since Akane wasn't allowed to practice the Anything Goes. She got a feeling that money was going to become scarcer and scarcer if something wasn't done very soon. She sat down at the desk once more, finishing off her homework quickly and pulled out the house budget.

The night went over uneventfully and led to the day, it also led to an uneventful first half of the school. When lunch came around is when business picked up as people began to congregate around her, asking about new pictures of their beloved Akane. It nearly made her sick as she watched these teenaged horn dogs sniffing around her for anything else that would fuel their wet dreams for tonight.

Almost.

Pulling out the packet of the newly developed pictures, she dumped them out on the table in front of her and nearly freaked out as pictures of a red headed girl peered back at her from many of those pictures. Some of the pics had her in a green Cheongsam that was almost but not quite revealing while others were of the same redhead in the dojo going through various martial arts, one particular pic of a kick that went above her head making her legs look like a perfect line from the heel of one foot to the toe of the other.

The reaction was almost instantaneous, hands reaching in and grabbing pics of the hot little redhead and nearly howling in delight at the beauty they had never seen at school before. She took a moment before asking for nearly double of the regular Akane pictures, taking money hand over fist as people tossed her whatever she was asking for. No one ever noticed her pocketing one for herself. Thankfully, Kuno never appeared, having gotten his pictures from somewhere else.

They were walking home when Nabiki stopped Ranma, Akane not noticing or caring when they stopped and waited for her to disappear down the street toward home. Pulling the picture out, Nabiki showed it to Ranma. "This was a surprise." She started off with, watching Ranma wince and look at the ground as if guilty of a crime.

She watched Ranma for a bit before she spoke again. "I just want to know one thing that's been bugging me ever since I saw these." Nabiki spoke levelly as she watched Ranma. "Why?"

Ranma swallowed once before speaking, keeping his eyes averted. "I can help, too." Ranma's voice was getting better, but sometimes he rasped as he talked. "I saw you looking worried in your room and went in to look after you went downstairs." He could imagine the look on her face as he told her how he invaded her privacy. "I saw the pictures and thought you could use some variety, so I took some of myself in cursed form."

It was true that she was starting to become very limited in the stuff that she could sell of Akane, it was strange that someone would take pics of themselves for her benefit.

"I'm a little upset that you went into my room without my permission." Nabiki said, though she mentally added, "At least without me in it as well." Ranma nodded as she continued. "If you're willing to help, I could use a few pictures of both of your forms."

Ranma looked at her in confusion.

"Oh, come on, Ranma, you can't tell me you haven't noticed a lot of girls looking at you." Nabiki gave him a critical look.

Ranma nodded. "I thought they were staring at me because they didn't like me."

Nabiki stared hard at him, trying to see if he was kidding her or not. She suspected that he wasn't kidding. "Ranma, we're going to have to work on your confidence, and making you more clued in as to why everyone is eyeing you all the time."

* * *

Getting Ranma to pose for pictures had actually been easier than she had thought, she had only had to stop twice, and not because Ranma needed a break. The first time was so she could get a new roll of film while Ranma changed from his female form back to his male form. The second time was so she could go cool herself off, watching his male form was making her more than a little uncomfortable. 

Finding clothes to fit Ranma's female form had been a bit tough. Some of it would hang loosely from Ranma's frame due to height whereas others would be too tight, especially around the chest. If the female photos lasted longer than five minutes, she would give up being a bookie.

The male photos were another matter. She had never sold male photos of anyone before, granted the stock of male flesh around the school was not anything worth taking pictures of. Ranma's physique would have made greek gods envious and as things were known for around Furinkan, she'd be getting orders for pics from many lonely women from many different schools.

That was an idea. Maybe she should start some kind of male order catalogue. Ranma himself wasn't for sale, but she could probably sell off a lot of beef cake photos. During dinner, Nabiki took out her mini camera that was a nice digital affair with some high definition on it and showed Kasumi what she had gotten from Ranma. She had to pat Kasumi on the back to keep her from choking on that nights dinner right after that.

Nabiki didn't get to see her camera for the rest of the night.

* * *

"Girls, I have an announcement to make." Soun said as the dinner wound down. "Please meet me in the dojo when you're finished." 

As if taking his cue from Soun standing up, Ranma stood up and followed him out of the room, his dinner left where it was. The girls looked around each other before finishing their repast, cleaning the plates up and making their way out to the dojo to sit before their father.

"I have an announcement that involves all of us, and I wanted your mother present for this decision." Soun spoke solemnly as he looked briefly at his wife's altar. His children followed his eyes whereas Ranma kept his eyes to the floor in front of him, sitting to the right of Soun. "I am going to start teaching once again, though this will not be the Anything Goes that you have been raised with. With Ranma's help, I am going to create a whole new art, and I am offering you all to learn it."

"What about the original Anything Goes? Why are you abandoning it for this new school?" Akane shouted, rising up to a knee in anger.

Soun eyed her with a hard stare, waiting for her to reseat herself before continuing. "The original form of Anything Goes is a foul art. It has drawn out the worse in Genma and could do the same to all of you if I taught you it. I would not have considered teaching any of you anything more in the art until I refined the worst pieces out. That is where Ranma has helped me and continues to do so."

"There's no way I'm putting up with this." Akane spat as she slammed her fist into the floor next to her. Pointing at Ranma, she shouted, "I challenge you for the right to teach Anything Goes! If I win, you will no longer change my daddy's thoughts that our art is bad."

Ranma looked at Soun as Soun glared at his youngest. "I will allow it on the condition that you will give up the Anything Goes art forever if you lose, forsaking it for this new art. I will even allow you to use Anything Goes for this fight, but there will be no weapons involved at any time."

Nabiki and Kasumi moved to the far side of the dojo away from Ranma and Akane, Soun stood betweem the two as Ranma stood up, looking worriedly at Soun. "This is a full contact match. All blows are legal, no weapons allowed. The first to be knocked unconscious under the Anything Goes rules will be declared the loser. Do you both agree?"

Akane nodded smartly, already assuming a close stance, feet nearly together and hands in front of her clenched into fists. Ranma ducked his head, knowing he couldn't get out of this fight as he nodded.

Seeing the acknowledgements, Soun shouted, "Begin!"

Akane rushed in, jabbing to Ranma's head since his face was turned down, she intended on pushing him back a little before beating him senseless. Her jab came up short as Ranma swayed out of the way, leaning backwards to avoid the shot. She was forced to stop and throw punches or kicks at him as Ranma simply refused to move from his spot, though he weaved out of the way of the punches and occasionally high enough kicks, or jumped over the lower sweeps.

It threw her off her pace. Normally an enemy would move around, do something more extravagant than simply stand in place, and it was frustrating her to no end that with all the attacks she had thrown, Ranma weaved around them without lifting his face up to her. Growling ever louder as she became more and more frustrated, she shouted "Stop dodging me and fight me for real!"

She was picking herself up off the mat a few seconds later as a front kick lashed out from Ranma, landing in her stomach and knocking her back and off her feet. She couldn't breathe, the kick had been hard enough to take her breath away whereas Ranma simply held the pose where he had kicked her.

"Ranma." Soun spoke softly as Akane gasped for air. "She deserves to be treated like a martial artist, even if this is the last time she will ever fight with her chosen style."

She would not lose to him, not to this pervert who came into her house and turned everyone against her. She'd beat him, break his body until he cried out in mercy, then she'd beat him some more just for being a boy. She'd make him pay for making her life hell!

Shouting as she ran at him with fist cocked, she put all her anger, all her frustrations into this one blow intending on knocking him out with it. She threw the punch and Ranma seemed to roll with it, taking it on the chin as he spun. That was when she noticed her feet were coming up to meet her in the air.

Ranma had turned, using his heel to kick her feet out from under her. There was a moment where Akane seemed to be flying feet first toward the wall before Ranma brought a clubbing blow down on her chest, slamming her hard into the floor. He stood over her as she twitched, her hands grasping at her chest as she desperately attempted to pull a breath in.

Her vision was blurry, flickering in and out as she tried to maintain awareness. She wouldn't lose, not like this, not as badly as she was being beaten. Anything Goes was an adaptable school, one where you learned from your enemy and incorporated their techniques into your own. She couldn't have lost to him in only three hits.

She felt wetness hit her face from above and thought that she had been spat on. Focusing her eyes as best as she could, she looked up into that hated face that she despised more than Kuno. He cried softly, his shoulders shaking as tears rolled down his cheeks. They fell onto her face where she lay as they fell freely from him, looking for all the world as if he had lost instead of won.

_"Why is he…"_ she lost consciousness soon afterwards.

* * *

**five thousand view on only four chapter, my thanks goes out to all of you who have read this far and like what you see. This story has hit three communities within days of being posted on its first week, something that I have never had done for anything I have written, and the reviews I keep getting. I bow humbly to all of you who enjoy this so much and say so in your reviews. Here's to another week of posting, and another week of good reading.**


	6. Bacon, it's not just for eating

**Everyone knew this day was coming, that one of Ranma's more persistent enemies made his appearance. It took me long enough to track him down, found him wandering around in a wet paper sack. This person is not going to be anything like what we have known him to be, at least not yet. I will get him straightened out, but we have to at least introduce him, so without further ado...**

**Disclaimer: Pot belly piglets and cuddle time with said animals are not owned by me. anything of the porky persuasion should get back to their jobs at Warner Bros. (also have no affiliation with said company)**

* * *

He was lost, but then again, he was always lost. This wouldn't be so bad if he could at least see his family from time to time. He had been places most people never traveled to and some places people didn't even know existed anymore. Things they used to tell about in stories and myths to small children who still dreamed, places he visited often.

He thought it had something to do with his family's bloodline, everyone of his family members had disappeared from the house once they hit a certain age, only coming home from time to time. He only realized that his bloodline kicked in when he ended up in Yokohama while walking around a corner from school. He had been ten at the time, heading home to meet his sister at the house in Juuban.

Six years he had been on his own, never finding home, never seeing his family or his friends. He had almost gotten used to the loneliness of traveling on the road by himself, it had taught him so much. He had learned to defend himself from the wild animals, learned to find food that wasn't too far from camp, or making camp after an animal had tried to eat him. A few had come close, but he had toughened up, grew strong.

He was in another town today, he assumed it was someplace on Japan, but guessing never did him any good. He could stop and ask for directions, but he'd forget them as soon as he asked where he was, another problem that pertained to his curse. He was getting hungry though, and asking someone may at least get him out of town so he could find a wild animal to eat tonight.

He was nearby a school, it was as good a place as any.

"Excuse me." He asked, adjusting the yellow bandana on his forehead as he looked for someone to stop. A guy nearby walked by without even paying attention to him.

He called out again. "Excuse me." He was going to try louder this time, seeing if he could get someone's attention. A girl gave him a strange look but kept walking right by him.

What was wrong with people these days? Couldn't they see he needed help? He lashed out with his fist, smashing the stone next to him that was a part of the school wall. The wall consequently broke. Looking at his fist to the wall, he sighed. They just don't make walls like they used to.

"You look like you're having trouble." A girl near his age in a brown haired bowl cut approached him, eyeing the wall as if checking out the shoddy workmanship herself.

"Can you help me? I'm kinda lost." Finally, someone could point him out of town.

She held her hand out to him, palm upwards.

Blinking in confusion at the hand, he looked up at the girl's face. What? Was this some kind of greeting he'd missed out on with his time out in the wilderness?

"One thousand yen." The girl mildly replied, seeing the lights not coming on in the boy's head.

"For information?" He asked, dumbfounded. When did people get so tightfisted over information?

"You don't know where you are, I'm offering to spend my time helping you for the information you seek. It's cheap at half the price." It actually was half the price, but we won't tell him that right now.

He grumbled. What the hell did they teach in school these days that he'd get hustled for cash from this mercenary? Reaching down to lift the hem of his yellow shirt up, he reached into the pockets of his dark green pants. If he didn't somehow find his way out of town after this, he was really going to be unhappy.

As he began to pull the money out of his pocket, he looked up. He froze at what he saw.

Standing next to the girl that was extorting him for money was a face he thought he'd never see again in his life. Red cheongsam tucked into soft black pants that were tied off at the ankles, black hair that seemed to shine with the sunlight, even the blue eyes that constantly looked scared. He was standing close to the girl, either trying to be protective of her, or to hide behind her shoulder from him.

"Ranma?" the lost boy asked, staring at the surprised and now more fearful boy in front of him.

The girl looked from Ranma to the lost boy, her face taking on a considering look as she dropped her hand. "You know Ranma?" she asked, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"We used to go to elementary school together back in third grade." The lost boy replied, feeling something in his chest he hadn't felt in a long time. Happiness.

Ranma just continued to look with a little fear and even more confusion at him.

"Don't you remember?" the lost boy asked Ranma, who still stared at him. "You asked me to hide you from your dad at my place."

The lights came on all at once when Ranma's gentle smile appeared on his face. "Ryoga?" he asked quietly, hoping he remembered the name correctly.

The lost boy nodded at him. "It's been a long time, Ranma. We haven't seen each other in forever."

"Well, well, a friend." The girl looked at Ranma with a sly smile. "I didn't think you had any friends, Saotome."

Ranma blushed and looked at his feet, his fingers playing with each other. "I had another friend, even further back than Ryoga, but I haven't seen him since I left them."

She eyed him for a bit longer before offering her hand to Ryoga in a handshake. "The name's Nabiki Tendo."

Ryoga took it happily, shaking her hand enthusiastically. "A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Tendo. I'm Ryoga Hibiki"

* * *

"So you're just passing through, Ryoga?" The eldest of the three Tendo daughters spoke to Ryoga, offering him some tea as she attended to him. 

"Seems like I'm always passing through." Ryoga spoke, scratching the back of his head nervously as he smiled ruefully. "But Ranma, I never imagined you living here with the Tendo's. What happened to your father?"

Ranma winced as he looked down at the tabletop, his face regretful.

"Let's just say his dad got into some troubles with some amazons and he's trying to get out of it." Nabiki spoke lightly as she nibbled at a rice cracker. "But enough about him. I want to hear about how you know Ranma. He doesn't say anything about his past at all."

Ryoga could understand, even from some of the vague recollections he had of Ranma's dad. "Well, we met in elementary in Juuban. His old man was taking him around to the local dojos in town to get him to learn all the various skills he could before going abroad. During those times, I helped Ranma out with the bullies around school and he helped me out in the lunch room."

"The lunch room?" Kasumi asked, tilting her head to the side as she listened in.

"I wasn't very fast, and a lot of the time I'd miss out on the good bread they would serve, sometimes not getting any." Ryoga said as he clenched his fist in front of him, the indignity of his past resurfacing. "Boys at that age are cut throat, if you were too slow, you didn't get to eat. Ranma was having bully troubles so I helped him out and in return, we would either share the bread he could get to or split what he managed to grab."

"I could see how that could work out." Nabiki said as she took another bite of the cracker.

"So Ranma," Ryoga looked over at the pigtailed martial artist, "I'm assuming you got really good at running away."

Ranma chuckled ruefully. "Among a few other things. What about yourself? You said you were trying to create your own style?" It had been a long time, but this was something Ryoga had boasted about a lot.

"Well, I did create a style. It's a really strong martial arts, I can pretty much take any kind of hit and shrug it off." Ryoga said, not sure how he liked that.

"That's pretty impressive, I guess." Nabiki commented, hearing about a few invulnerable techniques, though being strong didn't exactly make it good.

"It works for me." Ryoga didn't hear the slight doubt in the voice, or just didn't pay attention to it. "So, Ranma, do you wanna spar?"

Ranma looked surprised at Ryoga.

"Nothing serious, just a friendly spar." Ryoga waved his hands in front of him, not wanting Ranma to get too gun shy at his offer.

"Is that alright, Ranma?" Kasumi asked him. "I've never seen what you and father work on."

Nabiki eyed him as well, though not as concerned about the martial arts as she was at how he would fare in a fight. She didn't want to have to think about Ranma getting into a fight she would take bets on, but the possibility was there. Ranma turned to Ryoga, thinking the thought over in his head. He had sparred with Ryoga a very long time ago, and they had always been easier than the rest of the fights he had ever been in.

Nodding to Ryoga, he stood up from where he sat and walked out into the yard facing the living room, Ryoga right behind him. Ranma did a few jumps to loosen his knees and ankles before stretching forward, showing off his flexibility to Kasumi and Nabiki who both blushed. Ryoga crouched over one leg, then the other as he stretched out, stretching out his legs more than his arms as he reached around his chest with his arms.

Ranma took a loose stance, hands held down at either side of him so that he neither appeared offensive or defensive. Ryoga took a middle stance, legs spread wide and arms up in front of him, one held before his chest while the other one was held at his side.

Ryoga charged at Ranma first, jumping into the air and coming down at Ranma from above, punching downward at him. Ranma rolled underneath of him and came to his feet only to watch as Ryoga cratered a good piece of ground where his fist hit. Ranma boggled at that before Ryoga's back kick nearly took his head off, whistling as it missed his head by inches.

He jumped and cleared the koi pond, avoiding the water and its curse changing effects as he got distance, re-evaluating if fighting him was really going to be the light spar he thought it was going to be.

"I see you're still able to run away when you need to, Ranma." Ryoga smiled as he jumped the koi pond, also clearing the small pond in a single leap.

His fist started to come down as Ranma moved over to the side, avoiding the follow up leg sweep. He danced out of the way again as the bandana clad boy rushed toward Ranma, keeping pace with his speed.

Nabiki had never seen Ranma move so fast, watching him dart away from Ryoga's intense blows. She leapt and jerked away from the attacks, shying out of the way to try and circle behind Ryoga, giving him time to rest between attacks if Ryoga over extended or attacked with too much force. He moved as if he was the very thing he was afraid of, a cat.

And Ryoga was pretty good too.

Kasumi could only watch, no thought would play in her head as he moved through the air, avoiding the few shots that Ryoga would come close to hitting him with.. He turned in the air, somehow managing to bend his body and keep his balance as he spun, twisted, rolled out of the way, or dodged backwards. For her, it was like watching an elaborate ballet or a dance where Ranma seemed to flow across the ground, his feet barely touching the grass.

Ryoga wasn't even a glimmer in her eye.

Coming to a stop from chasing Ranma around the yard, Ryoga straightened up and nodded at him. "You're still as fast as I remember." Ryoga smiled as he beckoned Ranma towards him. "Let's see how hard you can hit."

Ranma started to shake his head, only to have Ryoga stop him.

"I know you want to avoid fighting at all possible, but I promise not to throw any punches. I just want to compare your strength to mine." He actually was tired of chasing Ranma around and wanted a change of pace. He didn't remember Ranma ever fighting him back, so he was hoping time had gotten him over that problem.

Ranma looked over at Kasumi who could only stare and blush at him. It made Ranma shift uncomfortably. Nabiki had said that when a girl got that kind of look in their eye, they liked him. She also had to explain that although the girls touched his butt, they weren't trying to hurt him in a mean way when they pinched it.

Nabiki hid her blush better, but her face still looked a little flushed. She nodded to Ranma and waited to see if he would attack, curious as to what he would do.

"You're sure?" Ranma asked to Ryoga, who nodded. Ranma scratched at his pigtail before he looked at Ryoga with a serious look on his face. "Can you still fight back?"

Ryoga looked skeptical at him. "Of course I can, I just got tired of chasing you all over the place."

Ranma nodded before he bolted at Ryoga, who only had a moment to defend himself as Ranma closed the distance almost instantly, his speed kicking up higher than before. Ryoga barely bit back a curse as Ranma's fist punched his defenses hard enough to rattle his teeth, then the kick that hit right behind that followed by a backhanded fist to the same spot. Turning his block into a cross arm punch, he pushed forward with both of his arms to get Ranma off of him for a second.

Ranma leaned back over with the attack, planting his hands in the ground before back flipping. His heel caught Ryoga's chin as he flipped backwards, getting back to his feet just as Ryoga was about to land on his back. He jumped into the air, following up the quick backflip kick with a falling punch.

Ryoga's head was ringing and his chin felt like he'd been smacked upside the head with a boulder. He saw Ranma falling from above and managed to roll to the side, catching the falling boy with a sweep just as his feet hit the ground. He jumped back as Ranma hand springed onto his feet and came at Ryoga once again. Ryoga caught Ranma's fists as they tried to punch him, but didn't have anything left to block with when Ranma's feet started to stomp into his stomach, forcing him back slowly toward the pond.

He remembered to let go before long, Ranma pushing off of Ryoga to get clear as Ryoga raised a hand up in front of himself toward Ryoga. "Hold it!" Ryoga shouted, stopping Ranma as he was coming back at Ryoga, no sign of slowing down or tiring out.

"Are you ok?" Ranma asked, placing his hand on Ryoga's shoulder and looking down at him as Ryoga tried shrugging off the pain in his stomach.

Ryoga grimaced as he tried to smile up at Ranma, his arm cupping his abdomen. "Y'know, for someone who runs away all the time, you hit pretty hard."

Ranma's face seemed to shadow his moods as it darkened a little and he clamed up, his past troubling him. Giving a sickly smile, he helped Ryoga out by putting one of Ryoga's arms over his shoulder and walking him back into the house. Kasumi came over to the walkway and helped Ryoga into the house and then to the table as Ranma climbed in after him.

"Well, Ryoga," Nabiki asked as she munched on her forgotten rice cracker, "What do you have to say now?"

Ryoga winced before smiling. "Ow would be a good start." He winced as he tried to sit up straighter.

"Let me go get the first-aid kit for you, Ryoga-kun." Kasumi said as she stood up.

"I'll be fine, Ms. Tendo." Ryoga said as he struck himself in the chest with his fist. "See? It doesn't even hurt anymore."

"Oh, please, you don't have to call me Ms. Tendo." Kasumi said as she smiled happily at Ryoga. "Just call me by my first name."

"And if you call me Ms. Tendo, I'll sue you till it hurts." Nabiki stated, not making it a threat, but a mere fact.

Ryoga chuckled half heartedly at that, getting the distinct impression that he was in shark infested waters when it came to Nabiki. At this time, a vision of beauty walked into the living room. Long black hair tied back just below her neck, her face was trim and her eyes focused, She moved as if she knew how she could handle herself in a fight and seemed to exude power.

"Who's that?" the star struck look in his eyes not the only clue that he had found someone he could love forever.

Ranma looked from Ryoga to Akane and back again. Ryoga had a death wish that he didn't know about, especially when she saw him and jumped to conclusions.

"Is daddy in the dojo?" Akane said as she totally ignored the two boys in the room, dropping her book bag against the wall and headed out to the dojo.

"He's been out there for the majority of the day, working through the beginner kata that you and Kasumi are going to be working on." Nabiki said, trying to ignore the rudeness Akane was displaying by not saying hi when she came in the house and for not introducing herself to their guest.

She didn't even slow down as she walked through the living room, walking by Ryoga as if he wasn't there. Ryoga didn't mind at all if he could stare at her a little while longer.

"She's still upset about losing, isn't she?" Ranma spoke softly, looking down at the tabletop.

"I'm afraid so, Ranma." Nabiki said as she sat up straight, trying to get Ranma to look up. "Pride is the easiest thing to hurt and the longest to heal."

Ryoga came back into the conversation when he lost sight of Akane. "You're going to learn to be a martial artist too, Kasumi?"

"I just want to understand it better." Kasumi said honestly. "It's not that I don't want to be a martial artist, I'm just doing so much already that it would be hard to dedicate myself to something new."

Not understanding why she wouldn't want to dedicate herself to something as wholesome as martial arts, Ryoga just dropped the subject. Kasumi soon excused herself so she could start dinner and Nabiki soon followed, heading upstairs to balance the family budget.

Catching up on their past some, Ryoga and Ranma talked back and forth for a long time until dinner was nearly prepared. Kasumi came out and told them to wash up for dinner, which was the only time they had been quiet since being together in the house. Soun and Akane sooned joined the table, Ranma and Ryoga walking back in from the bathroom after washing their hands and Nabiki came down from her room, her smile a sign that they were in the black for once.

Dinner was been a somber affair, Soun discussing a few things Akane could do to speed her learning up, Akane ignoring anyone but her father or her sisters, Ryoga going off into a daze occasionally when he would look toward Akane and Ranma sitting comfortably between Nabiki and Kasumi. Ranma would occasionally catch Kasumi glancing at him from time to time, something he didn't really understand all that well, and occasionally Nabiki would lean up against him as she shifted in her seat, which he also didn't understand even more.

"Kasumi." Soun said as the dinner was nearly complete for everyone. "Ranma will meet you in the dojo once you're finished in the kitchen. He knows the kata, so all you have to do is listen to him as he instructs you."

"Yes, father." Kasumi said as she gathered up the first load of dishes, Ranma doing his part by taking anything she missed.

"I'm going to watch them." Nabiki said as she stood up. Akane looked at her suspiciously, but Nabiki knew how to calm her down. "What?" She asked, looking at Akane. "You think I should let Ranma be out there by himself with Kasumi all alone?" she changed her tone at the end so that it sounded like she was trying to sound cutesy.

Akane sniffed, crossing her arms in front of her and turning away from Nabiki. Nabiki simply smiled in victory as she walked out to the dojo, choosing her seats to watch more of Ranma in his art. Soun picked his newspaper up and flipped through it, going back to the page he liked reading the most, the comic section.

"So," Ryoga spoke, looking at Akane as she glared at him, "How long have you been a martial artist?"

"Nearly all my life." Akane snapped with force. "Why? Wanna make something of it?"

Ryoga raised his hands up in front of himself. "It's just that you looked like you could handle yourself in a fight when you came into the house earlier. You must be a black belt by now, if you've kept at it for this long."

"I was the heir to the school." Akane sniffed in disdain. "Now I'm a low rank beginner again."

Ryoga looked at her in confusion, but she didn't explain herself. "I guess you'll be learning something new then. When you Master something, it's always a good idea to learn something else that goes with it, or can be used in conjunction."

"I'll be learning everything new since the art I practiced was sealed and forbidden for all of us to use." Akane stared hard at the newspaper in front of her, casting her hate through it at her father.

"You didn't practice Anything Goes too, did you?" Ryoga asked tentatively, watching her reaction.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Akane asked, challenging him to speak.

"You mean you don't know?" Ryoga said, looking from the newspaper enshrouded Soun to Akane, not wanting to have to say this to her. "The Anything Goes is a pretty well known school of martial arts." Akane smiled proudly, looking at the newspaper and waiting for her father to beg her to take up the school again "It's known as a bunch of thieves, liars, and cowards to the rest of the dojos."

"You're Lying!" Akane shouted, making Ryoga cringe, but not much else.

"Ask any dojo around and they'll say the same thing." Ryoga said, shrugging. "Genma pretty much drug the Anything Goes name into the mud training Ranma."

Akane gnashed her teeth, grinding them to a razor's edge as she stared hatefully at Ryoga. Her school was an honorable one, and deserved respect. Why couldn't stupid perverts ever tell the truth? "You're in league with Ranma, aren't you? Just have to rub it in that I lost, huh?" Standing up and running out of the room before she broke down crying in front of Ryoga, she slammed the door to her room shut.

"Ryoga, was it?" Soun said as he laid the newspaper down on the table. "My youngest daughter is very emotional, but very proud of her skill in Anything Goes." Soun looked at the ceiling, wondering if he would ever get his daughter back. "It's hard for her to not only to be denied Anything Goes, but to hear about Genma's exploits."

Ryoga could understand that, he wouldn't like it very much if he heard someone was masquerading as him and dragging his name through the mud either, but he'd still want to prove that he was a decent person. "I guess I should leave then." Ryoga said as he stood up at the table.

"Why don't you stay the night?" Soun offered him. "Ranma sleeps in his own room upstairs, I can show you where it is and you can stay a bit longer with him, it looked like you two had a lot to talk about."

Ryoga frowned. He had a problem with this, but if Kasumi and Ranma practiced for awhile, there wouldn't be a very big problem with that idea.

"Thank you, Mr. Tendo." Ryoga bowed to him. "I'd like to take a bath, if that's alright with you."

Standing up, he showed Ryoga to the room upstairs and to the bathroom down the hall before coming back downstairs to his newspaper and maybe one last smoke before bed.

* * *

Kasumi had cleaned up the kitchen and the dishes in record time. Ranma had to stand clear of the sink, or have another dousing from the faucet, seemed every time he came near it the water would go nuts and do strange things. They dried their hands and Ranma walked out to the dojo, stretching out before Kasumi would come from her room dressed for her lesson.

He noticed Nabiki right away but didn't say anything since she wanted to try and hide in a corner of the room where the light didn't get to. Dim was about all it was, but still visible if you were looking for her, which she was hoping no one was. He bowed to the shrine in the dojo before he started to stretch, jumping lightly before running through a stretching exercise in the Anything Goes.

He was halfway through the exercise when Kasumi stepped into the doorway. He felt her stop and watch him for a little bit before he stopped and looked over in her direction. She was dressed in a gi that fit snugly against her, a soft pink color one. She had rebraided her hair swiftly, cinching it off with a ribbon so that she wouldn't get caught with it at the wrong moment.

She stepped into the dojo tentatively before walking up next to Ramna and giving him a gently smile. She bowed to the shrine before turning back to Ranma. Bowing before him, she said, "Please teach me the style my father entrusts you with, Sensei." She giggled slightly as Ranma blushed at her.

Clearing his throat as Kasumi stood back in front of him, her hands clasped behind her back. "What do you remember of the Anything Goes?" Ranma asked.

"Not much, I'm afraid." She said honestly, shaking her head. "It was a long time ago for me, so I barely remember any of it."

Ranma nodded, her father had said something along those lines. "We should work you on some stretches first. Working in the house has probably got you worn out, but this will help you with what we need to do."

He walked her through some easy stretching, leg stretches and squats and some shoulder and neck rolls watching her and gauging how tired she was. To his eyes, she was a little fatigued, and he was having second doubts about having her go through the kata.

"Maybe we shouldn't. "Ranma spoke, having Kasumi stop stretching to look at Ranma. "You're exhausted, Kasumi. I can see it in how you move."

He was subjected to the puppy eyes look. The way her lips seemed to pout as her eyes shined with hurt, the defeated look of her shoulders as she stood back up in front of him. Ranma had never been subjected to the puppy eyes that a woman had in her arsenal, and to have Kasumi use it on him not only made him feel bad, it made him cringe from the open misery on her face.

"W-Well, maybe just a few minutes." Ranma conceded, getting Kasumi's radiant smile on her face. He'd much rather see that than the other look he just got. "Let me show you what your father taught me, and then I'll walk you through it."

Ranma took an open stance, feet spread and hands cupped palm up in front of him as he closed his eyes. He took a deep breath before opening his eyes again, and then he began. Kasumi stood back and watched him, not the kata he was doing, but him as he moved with a rippling grace while on the pads of his feet.

She could admit that she liked him, and not because of his grace or how he looked to her. He had lost things to him that she could see, devoting himself to something that had probably saved his sanity as well as ruined him socially. He was an adult in a teenager's body, an athletic one for sure, but one that had gone through stuff most people would think imagined.

She didn't like young men being that they were so…young. Ranma may have been physically young, but he was an old man inside, and that drew her to him.

"Now, I'm going to walk you through it step by step, okay?" Ranma called her back into reality, snapping her attention up at him.

She blushed slightly at him. "Um…" Kasumi spoke softly, toeing the floor, "Could you talk me through it too? I might be more tired than I thought I was." She got a worried look from him for not hearing that he had just said he would walk her through it.

"Look, Kasumi, we can work on this tomorrow…" Ranma started before being cut off.

"No, really, I just learn better if you do it with me." Kasumi stepped closer, looking softly into his face.

Hesitating as he debated whether he should continue, he nodded and assumed the first stance, watching as Kasumi matched his. He talked to her, starting off slowly as they moved, adjusting her stance and arm position as he went as they took the move step by step. She listened to his voice, following along with his directions as she was led by him, allowing herself to do something for herself instead of for her family.

"Are you ok, Kasumi?" Ranma's voice seemed to echo in her ears. "You look like you're half asleep."

She didn't care if she was awake or asleep, as long as she was next to Ranma. He was so kind to worry about her, her family was one thing but a boy like Ranma who came into their lives, that was different. She felt him pick her up, cradling her in his arms as she leaned into his chest and inhaled. She barely managed to get her eyes open. "I'm sorry." She spoke softly, her voice light and wispy as sleep tried to drag her down. "I guess I was more tired than I thought."

She felt like she was flying, or at least gliding through wherever he was taking her, comfort and concern coming from him that wrapped her more comfortably in a blanket of caring than she had felt in a long time. She really was half asleep as Ranma glided through the house on the pads of his feet, sliding in his rolling step so as not to jostle her. He walked up the stairs carefully, making sure to give enough room for Kasumi's feet and head as he rounded corners, even used his toes to open her door, turning the knob and pushing lightly.

He had to flip the covers back though with his toes, unable to use his hands without putting her down. Laying her slowly onto the bed, he slid his arms out from under her, only getting the briefest of hitches in her breathing as he covered her up and moved from her room. He pulled the door closed behind him, knowing that Nabiki was there at the stairs, watching him.

"You should head to bed as well, Nabiki." Ranma said, still facing Kasumi's door.

Knowing she had been caught, she came up the rest of the way to the landing and leaned against the corner of the room. "You know she cares about you." Nabiki said, her arms crossed in front of her as she watched him.

Ranma's shoulder jerked, but he stayed staring at Kasumi's door. "Dr. Tofu likes her, that would be best for her."

Nabiki frowned. "Don't you think she has the right to choose for herself what is best?"

Ranma nodded. "I'm not a choice, though." Ranma turned toward Nabiki, his eyes sad.

"Oh, come off it." Nabiki said as she stood straight and dropped her arms. "You think that sacrificing your happiness with her is what she wants?"

Ranma walked toward her but stopped at his door, across from her own room and slid the door to the side. "Am I happy, Nabiki?" He stepped into his room and closed the door behind him, the conversation over.

Nabiki bit her lip at that. She was sure that Ranma was happy to be around both her and Kasumi, maybe even more Kasumi than her. It was hard to compete with her 'perfect' sister, especially for a guy. Yet Ranma had pretty much come out and said that he wasn't happy being with Kasumi, didn't he?

"I really don't understand you, Saotome."

* * *

Ryoga was still there when they returned to school, thanking his lucky stars that he had not gotten lost out of the house and wandered away. It would cost him a near fortune to replace everything in his backpack and his parasol, that thing had to be specially made, and there weren't that many people around who could make metal that good.

Staying away from the koi pond and the kitchen had been harder to do. He had wandered close to them a few times, Kasumi would be in the kitchen unless she was cleaning the house or hanging the laundry to dry. Sometimes she would be found in the dojo with her father, but most of the time she was in the kitchen.

He found himself out by the koi pond once again when it had happened. He had heard them come into the house from the front gate, and turned to call to them when his foot got caught on something that wasn't there before. He fell toward the pond, cursing his luck and now cursing Kami as well. The sound of someone falling in the pond caught Akane's attention as she walked into the living room first.

Ryoga's clothes floated in the water, yellow shirt swimming along the surface whereas his pants seemed to hang over the edge and into the water. There was, however, no sign of the boy. Ranma had walked in behind her though he was a she at the time. She didn't look at the pond or wonder why Akane was doing so, merely sat at the table and hoped her clothes would dry soon.

Nabiki eyed her sister before taking a seat on the couch, picking the remote up and switched over to a channel where she could take a look at stock prices that scrolled across the bottom. She didn't care what the other part was playing on the tv, she just wanted to see how the stock market had done today.

Ranma's head jerked up as a black streak seemed to levitate out of the pond and come at her, a shrill squeal coming from it as it charged at her. Her hand came up reflexively to protect her face and was rewarded with small teeth biting into the webbing between her index finger and thumb. Akane boggled at the little black piglet that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere and was openly trying to eat Ranma, whereas Nabiki ignored it.

"Help me get it off!" Ranma shouted, finally getting Nabiki's and even Kasumi's attention as she flailed her hand around, trying to dislodge the little black piglet that was trying to turn her hand into a bloody stump.

Grabbing it by the yellow bandana that was tied around its neck, she managed to pry it loose before flinging it away from her. The piglet seemed to ricochet around the room before coming back at Ranma. Ranma dodged away from it, the piglet in hot pursuit until she dodged near Akane, who still watched as the piglet tore around the room in a frenzy.

It stopped long enough to look around in angered confusion, apparently lost in what it was doing and not being able to find the target of its anger. Akane walked up to it and stood overtop of it, her shadow getting the pot belly piglet's attention as it looked up at her with suspicion in its beady eyes. She bent over and picked it up by its bandana before turning around and pointing it toward Ranma.

"Friend of yours?" Akane asked, watching as the piglet's legs went into blurry motion as it tried to run in mid-air at Ranma while Ranma ran out of the room and upstairs.

The sound of a door sliding open before slamming shut echoed through the house.

"Wow, that's the first time I ever saw a piglet win any kind of fight." Nabiki said as she looked at the piglet as it calmed down.

Akane cradled it in her arms and scratched lightly at the base of its ears. "I wonder how you got in here, little guy." She murmured softly as she peered into its eyes.

"What are you going to do with it, Akane?" Kasumi asked as she turned around and went back to work on dinner.

"Why are you asking me?" Akane said as she turned to look at the doorway leading into the kitchen.

"You're holding it, it's your problem then." Nabiki offered as she turned around and looked at the tv, taking a notepad in hand and writing a few numbers down from the market's close.

Akane looked down at it, frowning as she debated. She'd never seen a pot belly pig before, let alone one this small and black with a headband for a neck scarf on it. She walked out of the room and took it with her up to her room, closing the door behind herself as she sat on her bed, putting the pig next to her on her bed.

"So what am I going to do with you?" Akane asked the piglet as she leaned back against the wall, her eyes following the piglet. It grunted a few times as she watched it looking around her room. "You look pretty smart for a pig." She spoke to it, receiving a glare from it before it continued to look around the room.

"I could take you to the humane society and see if they'll take you." Akane continued to speak to the pig, wondering if it was therapeutic to talk to an animal like it understood her, or if it was the first stages of a mental break from reality. "I do like the idea that you hate Ranma nearly as much as I do."

The piglet froze, turning back slowly to look at Akane with giant eyes in its piggy face.

"You like that idea, huh?" Akane misinterpreted the look on its face as she smiled happily, picking the piglet up and holding it over her head with both her hands. "If you're going to stay, I better give you a name." Akane mused as she thought before putting the piglet on her chest and holding it there in a hug. "P-chan, that's a good name. How do you like it, P-chan?"

The piglet blushed profusely as it made a piggy sound.

* * *

Ranma skipped dinner, having seen the terror that was P-chan come down with Akane and be introduced to them. The pig growled in her direction, making her take to her feet and dash out of the house. With a jump, Ranma landed on the roof before crawling to the side and opening her window from the outside. She crawled in and disappeared soon afterwards.

"Akane, what are you doing with a piglet at the table?" Soun asked, pointing to said piglet with his chopsticks.

"He was attacking Ranma earlier." Akane said as she fed herself and the piglet in her lap. "It would be cruel to simply throw it out in the street, so I'm going to look around for lost pet signs for it."

"And if no one claims it?" Soun asked, wondering what her intentions were of the pig.

"Depending on if I decide to keep it, I'll get it vaccinated and get it some tags or leave it at the humane society." Akane said as she put some food in her mouth.

The piglet looked teary eyed up at Akane.

"Guess I'll go take Ranma's plate up to him then." Nabiki said as she put her chopsticks down and headed toward the stairs with Ranma's food.

Nabiki walked down the hallway, wondering about the young Saotome. He was an enigma to her, and she didn't like anything she couldn't figure out. Sometimes, he was a bundle of nerves, and other times he was a compassionate person who put himself into harms way for the sake of people he hardly even knew. Normal people wouldn't go through such extremes, then again, Nerima isn't normal.

Nabiki slid his door open, but stopped before she threw it totally open. From inside the room came the blue glow of Ranma's luminescent claws from her hands, or at least, her right hand. She stared at it with a sad look on her face, turning her hand one way, then the other as she simply stared at the claws that seemed to spring up from the back of her hand.

Something about how she was fascinated with them made Nabiki uneasy, and the fact that she was simply staring into the blue glow while sitting against the wall was even worse. Stories ran through her head of people who went and commited suicide after going through less than what Ranma had gone through, and the way she had spoken about herself last night, it left a foreboding in her.

The claws on her hand snuffed out and she ran her hand across her chest, laying her head back to stare at the ceiling. She sighed once before her eyes fell on the door and on Nabiki. "Come in, Nabiki." She called, her voice matching the look on her face.

She pulled the door open, staring at Ranma with an unreadable look on her face before she walked in and laid the plate of food down beside her. She watched Ranma, not paying attention to the food as she leaned over and laid the food down, then stood back up. The look in her eyes was a well concealed gaze, offering nothing in the way of her emotions, the mask on her face seeming made of stone.

"Are you ok, Ranma?" she asked her, slight concern the only indication to her mood.

She stared at her for a bit before saying, "I don't think any of us is 'ok', Nabiki."

Nabiki stared at her with a cryptic look, unsure of whether that was meant as it was said or at something deeper.

"Nabiki." She spoke softly, staring up at her. "Once the dojo is opened back up again, you won't have to make money for the house anymore." Her mask seemed to take on layers. "Will you hate me for it, or will you keep the money you make from then on?"

She watched Ranma carefully, gauging her. "I don't understand what you mean, Saotome."

She shifted, turning more to Nabiki as she looked up at her. "You won't have to supply money anymore, you can be a simple girl making money for anything she wants for herself. Will you hate me because I took away the thing that you've been doing for years?"

Nabiki wondered too. She had been the money provider for the household for nearly ten years, learning to make money when your near eight is a hell of a hard lesson on a kid. She had managed to make it with Kasumi's help, Kasumi managing to pull some money in as well, though she had been extremely secretive on how or where the money came from. Nabiki had never found out to this day.

"Why are you doing this to us, Ranma?" Nabiki asked her, a light questioning tone in her voice, but her mask never failing. "Why help us out at all when you could simply go home and forget all about this troubled house and the people that live in it?"

Ranma turned her head to the side before looking Nabiki in the eyes. "You made it stop." She spoke lightly. Nabiki looked confused, but Ranma continued. "I lived with the sound of cats in my ears for ten years, following my father into one misery to the next." Thinking of the four legged demons made Ranma's skin crawl and hair stand on end, but she went on. "When Akane and my dad beat me the first day I was here, you, Kasumi, and your dad cradled me and protected me when you could have simply sent me away and let me be the way I was.

"That was the first time in a long time that the sound stopped for me." Ranma closed her blue eyes. "I still hear them from time to time, but I don't hear them much anymore. I hear them a lot in Akane, she has pain in her like me, but for different reasons.

"I hear it in Kasumi when she is alone in the house." Ranma looked around her room, as if seeing something Nabiki couldn't. "Your father knows what he needs to do to make it stop in him and is working hard to quiet the sound. You have it too, though you don't acknowledge it."

Nabiki sat down in front of him, looking at him seriously with a frown on her face. She thought she understand what it was that he was comparing this 'sound' to. Akane's anger would be where her 'sound' came from, and Kasumi's loneliness could be hers. Ranma had said that daddy's wasn't nearly quiet, which probably meant about mom.

She didn't want to think about her own, so she didn't. She'd worry about it later. Never if she had her say about it.

"Nabiki." Ranma's voice was getting rough again, she was really starting to open up. "What engagement did your father want to break?"

She blink blinked in confusion, thinking back when her father had mentioned engagements. "Daddy said that he and your father made a promise to join the schools together when their kids were old enough to get married."

Ranma looked at Nabiki, her sad eyes looking deep into hers. "Was that why you think I should be with Kasumi?"

Nabiki frowned. "Don't you like Kasumi?" she asked.

"Who couldn't like Kasumi?" Ranma asked back.

"You're avoiding the question." Nabiki spoke.

"I told you last night what my answer was." Ranma spoke to her.

Nabiki gave him a hard stare. "You're doing it on purpose, aren't you?"

Ranma broke her gaze with Nabiki, staring out the window. "If I didn't choose Kasumi, would you want to be with me?"

That threw her off her pace and the mask from her face. Surprised that he'd even suggest something like that, she leaned back from him, though she didn't vocalize the denial that should have leapt to her lips. She did like the aspect of Ranma that had helped her family in its time of need, even providing so much money to help herself out of the hole she had dug herself into. Yes, she did like Ranma in the way he defended her and her honor, but did she want to be with him?

Her stomach growled at this most inopportune time. She looked down at her Judas before looking back at Ranma, who had not touched her food yet. Standing up, she walked over to the door before turning around to him. "We're not done having this conversation." She said before walking out and closing the door behind her.

* * *

He had followed them. Stopping far enough away to release the Umi-Sen Ken so that he could rest from the exertion of keeping it up for so long, he had followed them for little over a week as they traveled by boat back to China and into the woodlands. They seemed never to realize that he was following them, and if they did know, they did nothing about it.

Traveling through the countryside had been a trial in patience, and had also taught him something new. Traveling through towns in panda form would get him fleas.

He itched something fierce from the flea bites, but he had to ignore them to maintain the Umi-Sen Ken. Still he had traveled far enough behind them to find the village and the house they disappeared into while he perched on the wooden logs that surrounded the village. They stayed in there for an hour or more, he was never that good at time unless there was a clock nearby, but they came out the very same day and headed out of the village.

He leapt across the stable roofs that he could, avoiding the thatched ones at all times. He didn't want to fall through the roof into someone's house and surprise the hell out of them and himself. It would drop his concentration and reveal himself to everyone and then some. He managed to land in front of the house and slip inside without drawing attention to the door opening on its own and closing thusly.

Once inside, he dropped the Umi-Sen Ken, his panda form coming out into the open. He itched himself as hard and fast as he could, unable to imagine a pain worse than being eaten alive by small bugs. Looking around the house as he scratched, he began his search. The old crone had mentioned that she had left this supposed cure in the house and it was shaped like a pill, he just had to ransack the house until he found it.

The problem came into play that he couldn't make too much noise. If the sounds of the ransacking made it outside the walls, people would come running to see who had broken in and probably kill him. He searched through drawers, peered into jars, sorted through herbs and passed over jewels and baubles, trying to find this one pill in a house this big.

He found the younger girls room and tore the hell out of it. His frustrations rising at this point, clothes were shredded, jewel cases overturned, the bedroll meeting the same fate as the clothing before he moved on to the next room. The old crone's room was full of knick knacks that spread from one side of the room to the other, they hung from the roof and pegs on the wall as well as being spread out over the cabinets and dresser.

He tore this room up in fury, unable to believe the junk that seemed to cover the room. He didn't care if he was going to get caught by this time, he needed to vent himself or he was going to burst something in his head. Yanking a necklace into pieces, he only then realized that the pearl that had been the centerpiece of the thing wasn't a pearl at all. The color was all wrong and the thing was being held in place by a metal ring.

Popping the 'pearl' out of its holder, he realized he had found the thing he had been searching for, the Phoenix Pill. The sound of the front door bursting open and people come storming into the house forced him to swallow the pill without the aid of water. Using one of the Yama-Sen Ken techniques to punch through the roof. He donned the Umi-Sen Ken before jumping out of the large hole and headed as fast as he coud for the outskirts of the village. It would only be a matter of time until the old woman would attempt to find who broke into her house and left it demolished inside.

If she found him, it was over. He ran as fast as he could for the nearest port, hoping beyond hope that he could beat her back to Japan and to Ranma. It was time for another training journey.


	7. The NekoKen Revealed

**I thought I should let everyone know that you guys are getting off light. When it comes to writing, I am a known procrastinator. Seeing over the last two weeks of how I have been putting chapters out nearly hand over fist, I am outright surprised how this has flowed so well so far. Granted that there's still a lot of questions pertaining to how they all ended up the way they did, but I'm planning on some flashbacks to get some background going. Without further ado...**

**Disclaimer: That's right, my friends. Step Right Up, Don't be Shy, Nobody likes a Lawyer! (or ones trying to sue you into oblivion for abusing the ability to make a version of their own story from someone elses when they're not making money off of it)**

* * *

"Master Kuno! Master Kuno!" Sasuke shouted as he ran through the mansion like house. He had finally gathered all that he could possibly ever need against the one known as 'Ranma' and had raced home with the information. He had stopped off for a bath before going to look for his lord, but he wasn't about to mention that to him.

"Stop your infernal caterwauling, man. I can hear you fine!" Kuno shouted as he opened the doors to the back of the compound. He looked testy, which didn't bode well for Sasuke.

"Master Kuno, I have the information you seek." Sasuke landed before his liege on one knee, offering up the photos to his lord. "While taking these pictures of his fight with the foreign woman, I noticed him trying to avoid the toy as if it was a weapon that could do great harm to him."

Kuno sorted through the photos slowly, scanning them one at a time until he found one that riveted him on the spot, a sound coming from his throat as his eyes enlarged. "Sasuke." Kuno muttered, his attention fixed wholly on the photo.

"Yes, Master Kuno?" Sasuke hoped that he would be praised. He had worked so hard over the last three days to rush the photos to his master.

"Prepare the necessary trap for Saotome. We must free the purple haired vixen from his foul grasp immediately!" Lusty thoughts passed through his head as he stared at the picture in his hands.

"Master Kuno?" Sasuke questioned, looking at Kuno in confusion.

"This fierce Valkyrie of violet hair must realize that the fiend Saotome is the most evil of sorcerer's and came to smite him! It would be in our best interests to help such a divine being!" Kuno posed as if he stood on a cliff looking over the ocean below as a massive wave splashed upward and around him, making the light play in an artwork of beauty that would move the heart.

Sasuke sweatdropped, looking at Kuno who could only pose, boken held high in one hand as he lived out his fantasy world.

* * *

Ranma was on his way home from the market, roof hopping from one building to the next. He had been asked by Kasumi to stop at the market and pick up some extra ingredients that she had run short of and, being the ever helpful person that he was, volunteered to go to market and get the items in question. 

He raced from rooftop to rooftop heading back to the Tendo household, hoping that he wouldn't keep Kasumi waiting any longer than necessary. He had kept his father waiting one time, having tried to sneak out of a village without being caught, let alone seen, and had been beaten until he couldn't move.

He shook his head, dispelling the past as he leapt once more into the air. Kasumi was nothing like his father, going beyond the physical aspect into the metaphysical. She had never raised a hand to him, not even raising her voice to him, ever. She always smiled whenever she was looking at him, sometimes with a blush on her face, which he didn't understand very well

Then there was the general feel of Kasumi throughout the house. Walking into the house gave you a sense of being loved and accepted, no matter who you are and what you've done, at least he thought it did. Once you sat down in the presence of the woman, it would be plain as day to know that this was a person blessed by the Kami for a life of self sacrifice for her family, bringing happiness to others and having it returned to her simply because it seemed right.

His father was the exact opposite, a man who could turn your stomach simply mentioning his name. People he had been introduced to on their journey had looked at Ranma in pity and his father with mild irritation or had drawn a weapon on the both of them. They could only fight at some of the more seedier pit fights because of Genma's reputation, and the promise that he would not actively fight anyone there, or be forced to hand over all of his winnings.

In a moment of distraction while being introspective, Ranma hit something in mid-air, something that made a sound and fell backwards in an uncontrolled fall. Managing to catch the edge of the roof he had sprung off of last, he grabbed the bag tighter to him before tilting himself off the edge and springing after the cloaked individual.

Wrapping his one arm around the waist of what felt like a slim body, he guided the person with him as Ranma tilted himself and twisted the both of them, impacting the ground, but rolling instead of landing flat. Wincing at the pain in his shoulder and back, he looked down at the hood that had fallen back to expose the person underneath.

Lightly violet eyes looked down at him in a face that was as much a porcelain dolls as any could be. Rose red lips that were dainty and shined wet, skin color of a light cream that made her dark hair stand out all the more. Her pitch black hair tied off to one side of her head with a ribbon as bright as the color of her lips, she looked down at him as if unknowing what she was seeing.

Kodachi could only stare into the eyes of the man who had probably just saved her from an untimely accident. His blue eyes drew her in as she lay against his firm body, feeling his heartbeat racing a mile a minute with her hand on his chest. Feeling an emotion she hadn't felt in a long time, she laid her head against his chest and full body relaxed, listening to the beat of his heart.

Ranma was at this point freaking out. He had collided into the woman in the air from wherever she was coming from, accidentally knocking both of them for a loop. Managing to save her from a painful meeting with the ground, she was supposed to slug him in the face, or at least turn his voice falsetto with a quickly applied knee to his body. Having her relax on top of him and sigh in content was something his mind could not process and it did what it always does when he can't comprehend something.

Kodachi thought she was in heaven as she lay on top of this god of a man. He had obviously seen her plight as she had fallen from the rooftops and had come to her rescue as any gentleman would have done. It could only get better as she looked up to his face and ask him for his name.

She suddenly realized that she was not laying on him anymore, but was instead lying prone on the ground. Coming to her hands and knees in a flash, she looked one direction and another before looking back to the rooftops, unable to find him anywhere. She caught just the barest view of him as he hopped into the air several houses down before she lost total view of him.

It was unfair, that her hero and god had left her where she lay, cursing her indecisiveness at asking for his name before he disappeared, and now she had lost him. It was slightly galling to be left in the street, but she proved her bloodline by making a mental jump at what could only be the obvious. He was simply so shy after having saved the beauty that she was that he had gone on without a moment's hesitation once he knew she was well.

"I must find him again and thank him properly for saving me." She muttered as she climbed to her feet, replacing the hood of her cloak back overtop of her head before jumping back the rooftops and heading off for home.

* * *

School the next day had been much like the previous days before them. Akane would beat into the dirt the Hentai Horde, Kuno would spout how great he was and Kami's gift to women before also meeting the same fate as the Hentai Horde, then school lessons that went by in one fashion or another before lunch came around. 

Depending on if Nabiki was able to find Ranma or not would be the variation in the day's activities. She gave directions to her informants and bookies, collecting money and receipts so she could crunch the numbers once she could get home and also making sure her people got paid in the process.

On the days when she couldn't get to Ranma, she would occasionally hear about how some of the women were trying to talk to Ranma, and how they were trying to either get a date from him or an agreement that he would go out on a date with them. It was a bit funny at first, hearing how Ranma would nearly come unglued when someone spoke to him in a polite fashion and even went so far as to offer him a boxed lunch. It had gotten less funny when girl's had started coming to her for information on Ranma, offering to buy anything she had on him and even offered their talents in many different forms of payment.

It seemed that Ranma's shoe locker at the main entrance of the school had been crammed full with love letters from not only his classmates, but from other classes as well. Since Ranma never used his shoe locker, it was overflowing with unanswered confessions of love for the pigtailed boy. Nabiki had cleaned it out and gone through the letters, seeing as how Ranma would probably freak out to know he was being hunted by the fairer sex from not only different classes, but different grades as well.

Some of the letters had been quite tame, confessions of love and light admissions of crushes and infatuations. Some letters had nearly curled Nabiki's hair in their descriptiveness of what some of them were going to do to him if they ever got a chance to go out with him, one in particular expressing something along the lines of rope, leather outfits, scented candles, and farm animals.

She would have liked to do the same to Ranma, at least, without the farm animals present if she didn't know Ranma in the way that she did.

Having it signed by Yuka and Sayuri just made it worse. Why in the world did those girls believe that sheep needed to be dressed in leather and then tied to the foot of the bed, anyways?

One particular day, she watched as Yuka and Sayuri were talking with Ranma, though Yuka and Sayuri would occasionally sneak various feels of Ranma's backside, though they both stopped when accidentally feeling each other's hands copping feels of him. Strangely, Ranma didn't look too bothered for having hands running along his backside, though they were both sitting down underneath the tree where Akane would normally eat with them.

It was only when a guy came over to Ranma and handed him a note did Ranma react, taking the note passed to him by said student and read it. Talking to Yuka and Sayuri, Ranma got up and jogged off, heading for the gymnasium at the back of the school. Nabiki's need to know suddenly jumped up and asserted itself as she got a disturbing thought, noticing Kuno walking behind Ranma for the same door he had just gone in.

Not one to jump into something without knowing what was going on, Nabiki walked over to Yuka and Sayuri. "Girls." Nabiki greeted them, nodding her head as she continued to watch Kuno walkin toward the gym slowly, leisurely.

"Hey, Nabiki." Yuka answered, Sayuri nodding to Nabiki as she drank from her milk pint. "What can we do for you?"

"It's about that note Saotome got." Nabiki said, looking down at Yuka and Sayuri. "What was on it that made him leave all of a sudden?"

They blinked briefly before looking at each other then looking back at Nabiki. "Didn't you just ask Ranma to go to the gym for a surprise?" Yuka asked, confused.

Nabiki's eyebrow raised slowly at this, suspicion rearing its head as she watched Kuno finally step into the gym, but not before unsheathing is boken from his hip.

"Have you ever known me to send a message without charging someone for bringing the information? Or for that fact, not bringing it myself?" Nabiki asked, thinking she was about to hear a fight break out in the gym that would last for about thirty seconds.

"Now that you mention it…" Sayuri started to speak only to be cut off by a shout from the gym that froze blood and made your hair stand on end. Nabiki was running toward the gym, hoping that she would be able to stop whatever was going on in there.

* * *

Ranma stepped into the gymnasium and froze in fear. He could smell them in here, there were a lot of them but he couldn't see them anywhere. His hair stood on end, even his pigtail was sticking out as if he was being shocked by high powered electricity. The lights were dim and he couldn't see much, but he could see that there was someone standing on the stage area for assembly when there was to be an announcement from the faculty to the children of Furinkan. 

Ranma ran over to Nabiki, knowing that she wouldn't hurt him, not with those things. She had been as nice to him as Kasumi had been, not hurting him and even teaching him a few things about how people acted in school and in public. He jumped up on the stage and walked over to her, wondering why it was that Nabiki seemed to be shrinking.

The flooring opening up underneath him caught him flat footed. Large enough to fit the Tendo living room through it with an inch to spare on either side, there wasn't anything for him to hold onto as he fell down into the darkness. He landed hard and immediately tried jumping out, the distance he had fallen wasn't that far down. The flooring had closed back up above him and he slammed into it hard, bouncing off the metal reinforcements that were hidden in the darkness.

He landed on his hands and feet, looking above him as he lost sight of all the light in the room, wanting to get out of this darkness badly now. His nose twitched violently as he breathed in and he froze as his eyes opened wide, the sounds reaching his ears just seconds after his brain started to freak out. He could hear them moving around in here with him, the smell was at its strongest in this room, the hissing and sometimes yowls of them called out from the darkness.

His ki claws extended reflexively, survival kicking into overdrive as his brain screamed for him to flee and flee now. The light from his bladed hands lit up the confining room, showing him the metal reinforced roof and his nightmare given flesh.

Cats.

Everywhere he looked, they looked back at him with their slitted, glowing eyes. Their hair bristled out at the fear smell he was giving off, claws popping into existence on a few of them while other came over and rubbed against his arms and legs, purring softly. He couldn't breath, couldn't move as his brain shrieked at him to run and run now, yet his body was frozen in fear.

It was only when the cats started running by him and from him that his nose picked up a new scent, one that did get him to move, though only to turn him around. It was large, orange with black stripes, and moved with assurance. The deep rumble that came from its throat made Ranma quake as he watched it pad right up to him, scenting him as its whiskers twitched not more than a foot from his face. Its mouth opened and it roared at him, the quaking in Ranma's body coming to a stop as his brain shut down, but not before he screamed over and over again.

* * *

"Where is the scoundrel, Sasuke?" Kuno shouted as he ran into the gymnasium from outside, boken in hand and prepared to smite the evil that was Saotome 

Sasuke took off the bike helmet that had ben painted in the shade of Nabiki Tendo's hairstyle. "He is below this floor, Master Kuno." He said happily as he kneeled and patted the floor.

"Sasuke." Kuno said as he approached the manservant.

"Master?"

"Why are you dressed in a girl's school uniform?" Kuno stared at his manservant who had taken to crossdressing.

About that time the screaming started below.

"Do you hear that, Sasuke?" Kuno crowed as he raised his boken. "The wrath of the heavens is slow, but sure as it smites all who dare oppose the righteous and just." Kuno would have gone on if the floor had not been suddenly cut out from below Sasuke and the manservant disappeared into the basement with a yelp of surprise.

The screaming was now louder, so loud that it hurt Kuno's ears. He had no choice but to cover them in his hands, refusing to release his boken, as the shouting went on and on. Sasuke came flying up and out of the basement from the hole he had disappeared into, landing on the gym floor behind Kuno. He was holding onto his left arm in pain as it bled openly from a gash that looked to have been clawed.

The hole suddenly erupted with cats of varying size and color, some of them the worse for wear and some simply trying to fight their way to freedom as the floor geysered them into the air around Kuno. They rained down around him, running out the doorway and into the yard beyond even as a tiger came bursting out of the floor and landed in Kuno's lap.

The shouting had stopped, thankfully.

The person that leapt out of the floor after the tiger, however, made him shout in fear anyways.

Ranma's eyes had turned into slits, normally round irises compressed together to look much like the cats that had run around and outside. His entire body glowed a light blue aura around him as he stood on his back legs over Kuno in a menacing manner. The claws on his hands had lengthened, now looking very much like long katana blades if katana blades were as thick as the head of a hatchet.

He was also covered in a fine red mist across his face and his arms. It trickled at one point from his hair along his cheek and down to his chin as the red stuff pooled at his feet. It wasn't a very large pool so somewhere in the part of Kuno's brain that did work he assumed that it wasn't the sorcerer's blood that was leaking from him.

The tiger did the smart thing and ran, bolting through the doorway and past a slightly surprised Nabiki Tendo. She walked into the gymnasium and froze, watching as Ranma towered over Kuno, who still hadn't gotten the sense to stand up, coward in fear, or simply pass out into unconsciousness. Nabiki couldn't go any further than the doorway, too afraid to move from the sense of malice rolling off Ranma.

"Boss?" a girl called from over Nabiki's shoulder. Nabiki turned her head just enough to look over her shoulder at one of her best informants, Kurumi.

"Kurumi, get everyone into the school as quickly as you can." Nabiki whispered, her face chalky in fear.

"What should I tell them?" Kurumi asked as she tried looking past her boss at whatever was freaking her out.

Nabiki turned her attention back to the glowing blue boy as Kuno stood up in front of him, brandishing his boken in a threatening manner. "Tell them that a fight is about to break out and to get inside before they get hurt."

"I know not how you managed to survive that trap, foul miscreant, but I will strike you down this day!" Kuno bellowed as he reared his boken back, intent on a head strike.

Kuno's boken turned to a fine powder as it came back down in front of him, his clothes being shredded in nearly perfect squares. The small scratches that then appeared over the full length of Kuno's body wasn't as nearly miraculous as the fact that Ranma had only swiped once and managed to cover Kuno from head to toe in cuts that had come from every angle, including behind him. Mercifully, Kuno's loin cloth underneath his clothing went untouched.

He fell backwards and onto his back in pain that quickly lead to unconsciousness.

Sasuke ran for the door as fast as he could, bounding the distance with short jumps. Ranma's head snapped toward the escaping ninja and his pigtailed hair flicked back and forth viciously before he gave chase, the floor ripping up underneath his feet as he leapt after him. Nabiki was shoved aside by Sasuke as he fled to the rooftop of the school via a tree before being pursued by the glowing boy.

* * *

Sasuke fled for his life, glancing behind him only once to see the pigtailed boy chasing him quickly over the roofs. He also noticed the glowing claws on the boy's hands as they flexed and the drying blood on his face, but that just added speed to his legs. He kept his left arm tight against his body to allow the pain to subside while he fled across the rooftops of Nerima, trying to find a place where he could lose the boy. 

Hoping that something would come to his aid, he luckily passed overhead of one currently lost boy.

Ryoga was looking for Ranma. He knew that the school was out here somewhere, but he wasn't too sure where it was at. Cursing his lack of directional sense, he tilted his head back and looked at the sky, looking for some sign from Kami on what he should do now. The fact that a small man who looked like a wounded mouse jumping overhead from one roof to the other made him question his sight. When Ranma jumped overhead and showered him with roof tiles, Ryoga quickly sprang up to the roof and gave chase.

"Ranma!" Ryoga shouted as he reached up to his forehead and pulled free his bandana, except that he had another one underneath that. Continuing to pull two more bandanas away from what appeared to be an unending supply of bandanas tied around his head, Ryoga flicked the three in his hand, making them go rigid.

Ranma stopped for just a moment, looking over his shoulder while his pigtail flicked back and forth on his head.

Ryoga snapped his hand forward, throwing the rigid cloth towards the now still boy, watching as the cloth spun end over end toward Ranma. They whizzed as if they had become boomerangs as they crossed the distance from Ryoga to Ranma. Ranma batted at them with his hand and the bandanas disintegrated into shreds before they came within five feet of him.

Ryoga stopped on a rooftop behind Ranma, dropping his backpack to the side, but pulling his metal umbrella from the top of the pack. He didn't want to believe that this was the same person that had given him this pain, this hell on earth, but if Ranma was truly the culprit…

He didn't get the chance to attack as a giant panda flew out of nowhere and kicked Ranma in the back of the head, knocking him from the roof and into the street below with a hard crash. Ryoga stared dumbfounded at the panda, as if not believing that something so large could move so fast, though his hand tightened around the handle of the umbrella and he snarled.

Again, he didn't get the chance to attack as a cat hiss came from the street below before Ranma jumped back up onto the roof and began swiping at the panda. Fur began to fly as the panda went into heavy evasions from the claws, dodging and weaving its way from the attacks and slowly to the edge of the roof before falling off. It fell only a few feet, Ranma jumping down after it, before kicking off the wall and changing its angle as it suddenly lifted back up and alighted on a roof further away.

Ryoga took advantage of its attention watching Ranma fall back into the street below, clearing the distance from one roof to another as he came at the panda, his umbrella raised as if a sword intent on skewering the panda. He shouted as he thrust, hoping to put more force behind the strike, though this was pointless as the panda batted the tip of the weapon aside and palm struck Ryoga in the chest, knocking him back and off the roofs into the street below.

Ranma jumped off the falling boy's chest, further propelling him down and into the street with a crash as Ranma jumped above the panda and slashed with both hands. The panda managed to avoid the lethal attack by inches, landing on its clawed toes while watching the glowing boy snarl and yowl in mid-air. As if realizing it wouldn't be able to stop Ranma, the panda took off like a shot, fleeing as Ranma landed and then gave chase.

* * *

Nabiki rushed into the house, running into the living room. Soun looked up from his newspaper at his middle daughter before looking at the clock on the wall. "It's not time for school to get out, Nabiki. Did something happen?" 

"Oh, you could say that, Daddy." Nabiki snapped before she mentally took control of herself. "Ranma's somewhere in the town chasing Kuno's servant with intent to kill, and I have no idea where he could be at this point."

"Are you sure?" Soun asked, before shaking his head. Nabiki never said anything unless she was absolutely sure of anything. "What happened?"

Nabiki gave the very short version of what she knew, mentioning the scream, the cats running in terror past her, and a Bengal tiger that fled with it's tail between its legs.

Kasumi walked into the living room from the hallway to the dojo, still dressed in her light pink gi as she listened to everything that had happened at school today.

Soun remained seated as he debated what should be done next, his arms firmly crossed in front of himself. It was obvious to him that Ranma was in the middle of the Neko-Ken and that he was in a frenzy. The book said how it was possible to make the student go into the state that would allow the Neko-Ken to come out, but had not mentioned anything along the lines of how to stop it.

"Well, daddy?" Nabiki looked on as her father thought, her nerves fraying. "Is there anything we can do to calm him down?"

Soun shook his head slowly. "Even if we managed to find him, we may not be able to stop him. It's obvious that he's under the effects of Neko-Ken. We may have to let Ranma tire himself out before we can approach him."

Nabiki's cell phone started ringing and she answered it tersely, temporarily getting distracted by it while Kasumi spoke. "Could we at least try to stop him, Father? He may seriously hurt someone."

Nabiki shut her phone off with a curse. "We're going to have to do more than that." She spoke as she gave her father a hard look. "That was a person I know by Kirabiyaka's clothes shop. He said he saw a panda being chased by a blue glowing boy in a pigtail, and that they were heading toward us."

Soun was on his feet and out in the yard almost immediately. He watched the rooftops for any sign of a fight heading this way whereas Kasumi ran back to the dojo. Nabiki watched her father before coming out into the yard as well, trying to help locate the two. The blue glow was easy to see coming as it bounced on the edge of sight and steadily grew, the panda in front of it coming into focus more and more as it bounced in front of the glowing boy by feet.

Landing in the yard, Genma jumped over the koi pond and over by Soun before turning around and looking back to the sky where Ranma was already coming down from the roofs, landing in the yard with a dust cloud spreading out around him. Nabiki headed back into the living room, hiding behind the corner of the wall as she looked at the panda and her father facing off against a very upset Ranma.

"Any suggestions, Saotome?" Soun asked, not liking the idea that he had to defend his 'friend' from his son. He'd much rather watch as Ranma turned him into a rug at this point, but bringing Ranma under control was more important.

Pulling a wooden sign out from somewhere on him, Soun read, 'Splash him with cold water.'

The koi pond being the only likely spot to find cold water, Genma and Soun spread out from around each other, giving Ranma a choice on who he would go after first. For Ranma, it never really was a choice.

He sprung up low over the pond, clearing it before Soun could react as he charged at Genma panda. The panda, having fought off Ranma in Neko-Ken on more than one time, dodged and evaded the deadly claws while trying to get a hold of Ranma long enough to quickly toss him toward the pond. Soun leapt for the back of Ranma, trying to get him from behind and grab hold of his collar.

Ranma, as if having eyes in the back of his head, backhanded Soun toward the house where the father bounced into the wall and to the ground. His head rang with the casual glancing blow Ranma had given him, but he shook his head and got back up. He came back at Ranma again, this time watching for any other kinds of surprises the boy might throw at him.

Kasumi had come running out of the dojo carrying a long staff with heavy padding at one end of it. Seeing her father and the bad panda fighting against Ranma who was glowing brightly, she came down the steps and over to the fighting, hoping there was something she could do. She watched as Ranma fought as if he was a giant blue buzz saw, ground shredding under his claws and feet while attempting to hit Genma, only bothering with Soun if he came too close.

Soun managed to get close enough to catch Ranma's back leg with a sweep that hurt him nearly as much as it should have hurt Ranma. Ranma stopped long enough to look over his shoulder at Soun, who could only stare back at Ranma as if contemplating the wisdom of striking him in the first place. Genma wasted no time, rearing back one clawed paw and aiming a strike down at the back of Ranma's head, claws pointed downward for optimum pain.

The sound of something striking something far harder reverberated in the near silence that came afterwards. Genma's eyebrow twitched as his pawed hand was held scant inches above Ranma's head, Ranma's eyes turned back to him and his own clawed hand raised but held back.

Kasumi muttered a half hearted "Oh dear." as she raised her practice naginata away from the back of Genma's head.

Looking over his shoulder at the girl who had struck him, thereby breaking his concentration as he nearly had Ranma beaten, he spun on his feet and snapped the practice naginata in two with his claws, ripping a little from Kasumi's gi in the process. She fell back and landed hard on her backside with a mild eep, looking up at Genma who seemed to loom overtop of her.

The hand that gripped the back of Genma's neck suddenly was anything but gentle, blue claws seeming to grow longer from the back of the hand as Genma sweated. Hearing a feral growl starting up behind him, his body was paralyzed in fear as he just remembered his insane son was still behind him. Bodily tossed with far more strength than Ranma should have had, Genma was thrown backwards through the Tendo's compound wall, a telephone pole, and halfway through a car before coming to a stop.

Genma watched as Ranma's aura expanded, changing from a raging fire and taking on a more dangerous form around the boy. Ranma's anger had grown, allowing the animal side to take a greater hold of him and it showed as the blue aura started to take the shape of a giant cat. Holding up a sign in his paw from where he was laying in the wreck of a car, the sign read, 'Someone Splash Him!'

The sudden mallet strike that almost decapitated Ranma skipped him across the surface of the pond and into the sole tree in the yard. Ranma's aura immediately snapped out of existence as he hit the surface of the water before skipping away and impacting against the tree. Akane stood where Ranma had previously stood, Mallet-sama smoking from the end that struck the side of Ranma's head as she glared at the unconscious Ranma-chan.

"How dare you hurt Kasumi like that?" Akane shouted at the unconscious redhead.

* * *

Kasumi knelt above the unconscious Ranma, damping the cloth in a small basin before wringing it out and applying it back to the redhead's forehead. She had watched over the unconscious Ranma while she slept after being changed to female form and out of the Neko-Ken. Akane, in the meantime, was getting caught up to date on what had occurred. 

Apparently, upon hearing that Kuno had been sent to the nurse's office after a fight in the gym, Akane had gone looking for her sister. When she found out that her sister had left the grounds for home, Akane had made the assumption that Ranma had something to do with it and rushed home. She had come in and around the side of the house when she heard the wall being smashed to pieces and saw a raging Ranma standing overtop a stunned Kasumi whose collar had been ripped up by claws and made a judgment call.

No one really said anything about the mallet since she had saved their lives.

Genma had been allowed to stay for the time being, at least until someone could cal the cops and have him taken away. It was mostly to keep an eye on Genma so that he didn't try anything on Ranma

"Still having trouble with your panda form, Saotome?" Soun asked as he watched their dinner disappear into the gullet of the panda.

Genma held a sign up that said 'The pill didn't work' while still managing to consume food. Nabiki was mildly disgusted and had taken her plate from the kitchen table to sit over by Kasumi and Ranma, watching Genma panda make a real animal out of himself. After consuming nearly half of the food on the table, the panda sat back and patted its belly before holding a sign up that said 'I'm taking the boy with me on another training journey.'

Soun winced. "But what about the arranged marriage, Saotome? Surely you haven't forgotten about that?" Soun had forgotten about that up until now. Playing at the only thing that could possibly keep Ranma out of Genma's hands, he hoped that it would be enough.

Genma raised a second sign. 'We'll have to postpone it' then flipped the sign 'He's not a true martial artist yet.' Genma stood slowly, his back still giving him fits from the car he had ben molded to from Ranma's previous throw. Before he could get close to Ranma, three yellow with black spot bandanas came spinning into the room and embedded themselves into the wall next to Genma's head.

"Genma Saotome, because of you, I have seen hell!" Ryoga shouted as he leapt into the living room from the lawn outside. Weilding his metal umbrella with one hand, he swiped for Genma who was already on the move, trying to get out of the small room and into an area where there was more room to maneuver.

Fleeing back out into the yard and out of sight, Soun jumped to his feet and rushed over to Kasumi and Nabiki while Akane rushed outside to watch the fight. Picking Ranma up into his arms, Soun headed for upstairs with his two eldest daughters following after him.

"Where are you going, daddy?" Nabiki asked as she watched her father head down the hallway by their bedrooms. Stopping by the bathroom door, Soun put Ranma down against the wall before reaching up and ripping a ward off the ceiling.

"Hiding Ranma." Soun spoke as he pulled a cord down from the ceiling, opening a trap door and a ladder slid down into place. Picking Ranma back up into his arms, he carried the boy cursed girl as fast as he could into the attic. Laying Ranma down on a dust covered futon, he climbed back down the ladder and replaced the ladder before closing the trap door. "Quick, girls, back to the living room." Soun directed as he looked back over his shoulder to the attic doorway.

They came back down just in time to see Ryoga get malleted by Akane into a new time zone as he flew off into the stratosphere. Huffing to herself, she shouldered her weapon and walked back into the living room, sitting down at the table to finish her meal. Genma followed her back in, though he had a few places that were bare of fur from near misses. Looking around the living room, Gena held a sign up that said 'Where's the boy?'.

Soun looked mildly surprised from his place at the table. "You mean you didn't hear your wife?" Genma seemed to freeze as sudden sweat appeared on his brow. "She came to pick Ranma up and take him home with her. It's been so long since she's seen him."

A shiver seemed to race through Genma's body before he managed to shake out of his fear. 'I'll swing by and pick him up later' Genma's sign read as he started to walk into the room.

"I see you are a creature of habit, Genma Saotome." An aged voice called from above, making Genma turn and run without looking at who it was.

Leaping from the top of the Tendo dojo, a violet haired girl gave chase to the panda whereas a shriveled old woman with silver hair pogoed up to the living room.

"Elder Kuh Lon, welcome back." Kasumi smiled brightly to the aged woman.

"Thank you, child." Kuh Lon commented happily as she looked to Soun. "I assume you hid Ranma from his father during that boy's fight with Genma?"

Soun nodded. "I'd rather keep him hidden away from Genma than to send him back to that misery."

Kuh Lon nodded to Soun. "You do much honor on your family and him by protecting him from that idiot." Kuh Lon looked in the direction that Genma had disappeared. "I'm afraid we may have to set up a temporary base camp in Nerima for awhile. That man has wronged us grievously, and will pay for his crimes."

Soun frowned. "That is unfortunate, Elder." He said, wondering what this would mean for Ranma with the violet haired girl near him all the time. Thinking of the girl must have summoned her as she landed next to the old woman and spoke in her dialect with her.

"Since we will be staying in town, let me reintroduce ourselves to you properly." Kuh Lon said as she bowed from the top of her cane. "I am Cologne, Elder of the Joketsuzoku Amazons, and this is my protégé and great grand daughter, Shampoo."

* * *

Ranma's head hurt. He thought he had been beat again something fierce if his head ached the way it did, yet his body would ache as well and it was clearly not hurting. He let his senses stretch around him as he felt out where he was at with his ki while keeping his eyes closed and breathing in check, as if he was still asleep. 

He was on a bed, the air smelled stale as if he was in a place that was not used very often, though there was a breeze coming in from nearby. The room, if room it was, stretched off a ways and tapered down into a point where the ceiling met the floor. There was one person with him, his head laying in their lap and their breathing sedate while he rested.

He opened one eye carefully, peering up from under the one lid at whomever it was that comforted him, not trusting whatever may be going on around him just yet. His eyes sprung open at the sight of Kasumi as she seemed to sleep above him, her breathing soft and her eyes closed as she leaned overtop of Ranma. Light from a nearby open window let the starlight into the room that caressed her cheek and made her hair sparkle gently.

Ranma nearly fled, feeling his body tense up all over and nearly jumped out the window with the position he was in. Still, he had been in worse places like this with women he hadn't known, this shouldn't be any big surprise for him. From where he lay, he could see her wearing a light blue nightgown that covered her all the way to her neckline, a one piece pull over from the look of it.

He relaxed slowly, looking up into her peaceful face as she seemed to slumber above him, using her lap for his pillow. He wondered why she was so nice to him, why she blushed at him when they sat at the dinner table or even why she wanted to learn how to be a martial artist. These things didn't seem at all what this Kasumi girl was like and it didn't make any sense to him for her to go through all of it for nothing.

He reached up and lightly touched her cheek before placing his palm against it and cupped her face in his hand. Her head tilted to the side to push into his hand lightly before her eyes flickered and opened slowly. She smiled softly down at him, humming once to herself as she slowly woke up.

"Good morning, Ranma." She whispered lightly to him, his eyes looking into hers.

"What happened?" Ranma asked, unable to look away from her. "Where are we?"

"Father had to hide you when your father came back." Kasumi spoke gently, not wanting to startle him. "You were in the Neko-Ken and we had to change your form to get you out of it."

Ranma's eyes flickered and his hand pulled back from her cheek, a frown forming on Kasumi's face. "I remember a trap, someone who looked like Nabiki, but shorter in the darkness." Ranma spoke as he recalled his memories. "The floor opened up underneath me, I fell into a room, couldn't get out quick enough. The smell of them in that room was sickening and I started to get scared, they were going to hurt me again."

Kasumi made a shushing sound as she stroked Ranma's hair out of his eyes. "You're with me now, and they're not around." She whispered to him, trying to calm him down.

Ranma continued, though he was a bit calmer. "I don't remember much after that, except for a dream."

"A dream?" Kasumi asked, tilting her head to the side.

Ranma nodded, feeling her light fingers running through his bangs. "A panda was about to hit me with its claws, but it stopped. It turned around and attacked someone I knew, and it made me mad. I thought they had been seriously hurt and I was going to hurt the panda."

Kasumi smiled lightly as Ranma's muscles tensed in his shoulders. "It was only a dream, Ranma. I'm sure it didn't happen for real."

Ranma looked up at her with a little suspicion. The way she said that didn't sound right to his ears, but he had no reason to doubt her, so he merely shrugged it off. "Kasumi?" Ranma asked, getting a curious sound from her. "Why are you so nice to me?"

Kasumi's hand hesitated before resuming their caress. "You remind me of someone I knew, a long time ago." Her smile was sad and her eyes took on a moist glisten. "They went through a lot of suffering and had to give up a lot for their family."

Ranma was silent for a moment, thinking. It sounded as if this was a touchy subject for Kasumi, and he didn't want to upset her. She was one of the nice ones that didn't hit him, after all. "What happened to them?" Ranma asked, not sure he should.

"They changed, little by little." Kasumi said as her hands seemed to stop sometimes before stroking his hair again. "They're not the same anymore. I thought that they could never change, but now they're practically strangers to me. It was very hard to watch and not be able to do anything for them."

Ranma felt her happiness fade and sadness slowly start to come from her. It hurt hearing her speak of the past, something he should not have asked of her. Reaching back up and cupping his hand to her cheek, she leaned against it and sighed gently, pulling strength from his touch.

"Ranma?" Kasumi spoke softly, her voice still hinting at the sadness underneath.

"Hai, Kasumi?" Ranma answered back.

"Promise me you won't change." Kasumi spoke softly, her voice trailing off around the last word as she seemed to shiver once.

Sitting up and turning around, he got on his knees and leaned up next to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into a warm hug. She hesitantly reached around him before embracing him, gripping at the backs of his shoulders with her trembling hands. She tilted her face down into his shoulder and silently let her tears fall into him, trembling into his body as he held her to him.

"I promise, Kasumi. I won't ever change."

* * *

Kodachi had been in her room all day, calling around town for information on her hero who had saved her from an untimely fall. Private Eyes couldn't help her because they didn't know what the man looked like, and the political power she could use because of the money of the Kuno clan earned her pretty much the same results, except for her allowance being slightly smaller by the end of the day. She was getting nowhere fast, something she didn't want to have happen considering she'd rather get someplace with her hero instead. 

Sasuke had been nearly as useless. Coming back in a terror from wherever he had been, his arm bleeding from a wound he had incurred, he had merely pleaded ignorance and rushed to the first aid kit in his room. The only good thing that had managed to make the day better was the fact that there had been a picture of her self proclaimed hero in the little servant's room, or at least the negatives were there.

She had a new batch of photos made up and edited to perfection, removing the violet haired hussy from the photos and leaving only her God of male perfection in them. She had spread them around the room, so that no matter where her eyes fell, she would be able to see him anytime she wanted to.

Some fetishes were worth the pain.

Giving Sasuke time to heal, she beckoned for the manservant, who appeared before her with his arm bound in a sling. "Who is this man that you have photographed?" Kodachi spoke firmly, pointing to a random photo blown up to billboard size and spread across two walls.

Sasuke cringed at the face. "That is the boy who hurt Master Kuno and me badly this afternoon, Mistress Kodachi."

Kodachi considered this. Her brother was a mental moron of the highest caliber. Sometimes it was a miracle to her to even believe he had managed to dress himself without drooling all over himself in the process. "Why would my brother be fighting this boy?"

"Do you remember Master Kuno's love for the Akane Tendo, Mistress Kuno?" Sasuke asked, his eyes down at the floor.

"I remember him lusting after some low born girl from his school." Names of peasants weren't high on her list.

"Apparently, this boy is living in the same household as the girl Master Kuno loves." Sasuke cringed, knowing what was about to come next.

"You mean to say that this man of greatness lives with the filthy rabble of commoners?" Kodachi's voice nearly shrieked in outrage.

"It appears so, Mistress Kuno." Sasuke just wanted out of her room before she flew off the handle any further.

"I won't allow it. I won't!" Kodachi ranted as she marched back and forth before the large bed big enough for a small baseball team. Black roses were stitched into the fabric of the covers and the pillows. She bit down on her thumbnail as she thought dark thoughts of how to save her love.

"Begging your pardon, Mistress, but you also asked me to remind you of your upcoming competition with the Furinkan Girls Rhythmic Gymnastics competition in the week to come?" Sasuke hoped he wasn't going to be beat too badly for derailing her train of thought, his arm already hurt a lot as it was.

A light seemed to go on in Kodachi's eyes as she looked down at the manservant, who could only shiver in fear.

"Isn't that the same school as my darling brother goes to?" Why he persisted in meandering with the lowborn's was beyond her.

"And the pigtailed boy, Mistress." Sasuke offered her, hoping to keep his head on his shoulders.

You could practically hear the sound of gears working in Kodachi's head before a dark smile lit on her face. "This Akane Tendo wouldn't happen to be on the girls team, would she?"

"I don't believe so, Mistress." Sasuke shivered as a scowl ripped across Kodachi's face. "However, I hear that she is a practitioner of an unorthodox martial arts, Mistress. If someone were to fall ill before the competition, they would most likely go to her for assistance."

The dark smile lit on her face again as if it never left. "Sasuke, prepare my things. I'm going out tonight."

"Right away, Mistress." Sasuke disappeared into the house, thanking Kami for quick wits and an even quicker mouth.

Kodachi turned to the pictures along the wall, the ceiling and even one that had been placed on the pillow next to where she would sleep. "Soon my hero, soon I will come for you and save you from those ignorant peasants. Then we shall return to my abode together and be as one in both mind and flesh."

Taking up her ribbon, she leapt out of her room on one leg, a stately leaping ballet of gymnastics skill with the sound of her laughter racing through the halls. Sasuke waited by the doorway outside with his Mistress' cloak, shivering at the sounds of her madness, and once again wishing he had not been born as a retainer into this household.

If he had any other talents than being a manservant, he would have left this place long ago and gone to work at someplace safer, like an insane asylum.

* * *

**Seems like that chapter turned out alright, kinda like how Ranma and Kasumi were comforting one another. I do just want to say right now that I have no idea who I'm going to be putting together, or if there will be any couples. Right now, it's more convenient for people to be brought together by their problems, but I'm sure I'll hear from all of you how Ranma should be put together with someone else.**

**Either that, or someone's gonna send a hitman after me, I expect the comments more than the assassin.**


	8. Innocence Lost

**This was a chapter I didn't like writing. I had almost deleted the entire fic and scrapped it, skipping it entirely because of how dark it is. I wish to say right now that this is not a pleasant chapter, diving back into the dark aspects that Chapter's One and Two were known for.**

**Disclaimer: I did/do not condone was is about to occur in this chapter. This is a fanfiction, not something that should ever happen to anyone. Rumiko Takahasi has the right to prosecute me for this, but I reiterate that this is strictly fiction. I do not own the rights to use Ranma in any way shape or form.**

**Warning: What you are about to read in this chapter suggests adult themes and content, including molestation and things criminals should be shot and killed for. Viewers Discretion is a must! Although it suggests only, this chapter alone may have to be posted seperately for things I feel are beyond the T rating this story has. You have been fairly warned.**

* * *

"Please Akane, no one on the gymnastics team can take this place," Kagari begged Akane on her knees with bandages on her arms and legs, looking the rougher for wear, "They've all got their own people to go against or are too injured to fight. You're the only girl who has a chance against the Black Rose of St. Hebereke."

Akane bit her lip. She wanted to help them out, really she did. She'd have jumped at the chance to help them a month ago while she was still allowed to use her family's true martial art, but now that she was banned from using it, there was nothing she could do. Unless…

"There may be a way for me to help you, but I'm going to need your help, Kagari-chan." Akane spoke, looking the girl firmly in the eye. "You and I are going to have to talk to my father and explain that I need to use our family's true style of martial arts."

"Really? You'll do it if he'll allow you to use it?" Kagari was nearly crying in happiness, now Furinkan wouldn't have to forfeit their competition and lose by default.

Akane stood up from her bed, helping Kagari, captain of the gymnastics squad, to her feet. "C'mon, let's go find my dad." Akane said with a smile, helping the girl hobble from her room and down the stairs to the living room.

Soun watched his youngest walk into the living room followed by one of her schoolmates who looked like she had fallen into a blender and come out the worse for wear. Helping her friend sit down at the table, Soun listened as Akane's friend Kagari explained that they needed Akane's help and that they would need her at the top of her form. Soun knew what they were alluding to, crossing his arms over his chest as he waited for them to stop speaking.

He eyed his youngest daughter, wondering if this was a ploy to get him to allow her to use the Anything Goes once again, and wondered how often she would keep trying to use it against his will. "I will allow her to use the Anything Goes style on a condition." Soun started his eyes closed solemnly. "If you, Akane, lose or forfeit your match for this school competition, you will never practice martial arts again."

Akane looked like one of the koi in the pond as Soun opened his eyes and gave her a hard stare.

"If you will not practice the style that I am bringing to this household, then I will allow you to use the Anything Goes style as you insist upon." Soun firmly spoke. "If you lose, you will prove that the style is not only weak, but prove that you have no talent for martial arts, having gone against my wishes twice now. I will not teach someone who will not listen to me."

"And when I win?" Akane's voice was hard and she glared defiantly at her father.

"IF you win," Soun emphasized the first word, "you will redeem the Anything Goes in my eyes and have my permission to not only continue to study, but I will give you every training manual I have on the art and give you your license to teach the Anything Goes to anyone you wish, making you a Grand Master."

"What if I say that I want to learn them now, since you'll be giving me my certificate after the match anyways?" There was no possible way she was going to lose if she was going to be given the recognition she had earned long ago and finally be recognized as the best.

Soun looked at Kagari. "How long until the competition, young lady?"

Kagari looked dumbfounded between Soun and Akane, wondering if this wasn't a bad idea after all. "One week, sir."

"I will give you the instructions after you win." Soun spoke with a hard edge. "It is impossible to learn a new skill in a week, and you know it."

Akane stood from the table and bowed to her father. "I accept your challenge, Father, and will seek to do you proud."

Soun doubted she was doing this for him.

"Is the dojo open? I'm going to need the full week I have to get accustomed to the tools used in the gymnastics competition." Akane asked her father, letting him know in advance that she was going to use the dojo often and that his new art would probably have to be put on hold.

"It's open now, Akane-chan." Kasumi said as she came around the corner that led to the dojo, using a towel on her brow as she wiped at the sweat there. "Ranma-kun is there now and can be your training partner if you require one."

"Then I'll leave you to it, Akane." Kagari struggled to her feet before lightly bowing to Akane. "Thank you for doing this for us, it means so much for the team."

"It's my pleasure, Kagari-chan" Akane smiled brightly to Kagari. "The victory is assured now." She made a pose with her fist clenched before her, a determined look on her face.

As Kasumi showed Kagari to the door, Akane headed out to the dojo. Soun remained sitting where he was, staring off into nothing at the latest development. There wasn't much he could do now, he was going to have to break his promise to his wife. Shaking his head sadly, he picked the newspaper up and stared blankly at the pages.

"I hope you can forgive me, kamisan." Soun whispered to himself as Kasumi walked back into the room, a fairly large bag in her hand. "Heading out, Kasumi?" Soun asked as she started to walk by her father.

"I have to go pay Doctor Tofu's bill for this month, Father." Kasumi said, her eyes not looking at him as she walked by.

Soun nodded as she headed for the bathroom. At some point in time there had been a moment where he had hoped the good doctor, though slightly unbalanced, would take Kasumi as his wife and take her away from this duty of hers. That she had been paying Tofu's bill on a monthly basis for them since she had turned thirteen was a good sign that they could at least have a professional relationship, if not something more. From what he heard of the Doctor, he was a respectable individual.

It would most likely mean for them to order out again. Every time she was done taking care of the bill for Tofu, she went straight to her room and no one saw her until dinner. Errands must be such a strain for her.

Nabiki happened to walk into the room at this time, looking around the living room as if trying to find something. Dressed in a red t-shirt and jean shorts, she was every young boy's dirty fantasy. "Daddy, has Kasumi left yet?"

"She's cleaning up after being in the dojo for her katas." Soun said, making a nod back toward the first floor stairwell by the laundry room.

"Make sure she takes this with her, then." Nabiki handed her father a stack of ten thousand yen bills. "It's Doctor Tofu's bill for the month. Honestly, some times she's just so absent minded." Nabiki shook her head as she walked back out of the room and headed upstairs.

He frowned as he watched Nabiki walk off. It was unfortunate that he couldn't pull himself together in time to maintain the household better than what happened, he simply couldn't believe his wife had died. Disease was something even his martial arts couldn't fight off as he watched his soul die bit by bit. He had a break with reality, and for nearly six months, he did nothing but cry and curse Kami's name at the injustice that had occurred.

He shook his head as he returned back to his newspaper, never hearing the front door open and close.

* * *

Kasumi was on her way to Tofu's, the place she always returned to. She wondered why it had let up to this for her, wondering if there could have been something different she could have done. She had been thirteen at the time and didn't have a lot of options. The money from the life insurance after mother died had been spent poorly, the money gone before it had been put to effective use. Nabiki was eleven at the time and just starting to become a good student, the pride of her school, but she took up the mantle of book keeper in the house and did her best to keep the bills paid and the money coming in. 

It's unfortunate that some of her plans didn't work out the way they had, and that the money was gone. This happening before Soun took a seat on the council in Nerima, there was nothing left coming into the house after Soun shut down the teaching of the Anything Goes and returned the money to his students they had paid for that month's training. Nabiki tried everything after that, betting pools, loans that no one would give an eleven year old, offering to make copies of her work to sell to others. She had started to head into the worst parts of town looking for Yakuza to sell herself to when Kasumi had stepped in and took up the slack that Nabiki couldn't handle.

Kasumi sighed to herself. She just never expected the help would come at such a price.

"Kasumi?" the elderly male voice called her back into reality as she realized she had stopped in front of Tofu's clinic. Doctor Tofu had his broom in his hand and seemed to be sweeping the walkway clear of accumulated dirt and leaves. "What are you doing here?"

Kasumi's smile slipped onto her face immediately. "I came to deliver payment for taking care of us, Dr. Tofu." She spoke clearly, tilting her head slightly as her hands tightened on the bag unconsciously.

Tofu's glasses fogged over, yet the smile on his face didn't appear. "Do you need to change? The upstairs is vacant for now."

Kasumi bowed lightly to him. "You are too kind, Dr. Tofu." She spoke lightly as she walked past him, opening the door and walking in before him, yet leaving the door open in her passing.

Tofu stared after her, his face unreadable behind the mirror surface of his fogged glasses. Unseen by the passerby's on the street, Tofu began to smile in a way that would unnerve his customers. He walked over to the door and placed the broom along the side before reaching in and placing a sign on it, adjusting the pointers to when he would be reopening for business.

He stepped inside, closing the door soundlessly before locking the door behind him.

* * *

Nabiki came back downstairs, placing an order for take-out on the phone before walking into the living room. Ranma-chan was sitting on the couch, staring at the wall as if divining the secrets of the universe from the materials of its construction. Having been near an hour after Kasumi had left, she sat down at the couch and started flipping through channels.

"Nabiki, the tv is too loud, please turn the volume down some." Soun muttered from where he sat, still not seeing the newspaper as he thought about the past.

Nabiki glanced over at her father, a frown adorning her face. He wasn't even paying attention to anything and had the gall to tell her to turn down the stock reports. She could tell by the way he held the paper, his head just peeking up over the top of it, normally he'd have his entire upper body hidden from view so that you couldn't see him at all. She'd made a comment about how daddy was trying to learn invisibility through a newspaper.

She took a second look at her father and her frown deepened as she noticed the money still sitting on the table. Kasumi had been gone for an hour already, she'd normally be coming home in about another fifteen minutes, it wouldn't do to have their sister have to go back to Tofu's after running around doing her errands.

"Daddy, I thought I told you to give Kasumi that money before she left?" Nabiki chastised her father, his attention finally coming to her as he set the paper down to look at her, then at the money.

"You did tell her I had the payment, correct?" Soun asked, wondering if she had come in and left with him not noticing her.

Nabiki sweatdropped. Actually, she had assumed Kasumi would have come to her after leaving the bathroom or would have met daddy at the doorway before leaving, but neither had happened, so blame could be pointed at her if nothing else.

Nabiki looked over at Ranma-chan. "Ranma, could you do me a favor?" Ranma seemed to snap back into reality as she sat straighter and looked her direction with a curious stare. "Kasumi needs the money daddy has to pay Tofu for medical expenses. Would you please run it to her? I'll owe you, and I always pay back my debts."

Ranma seemed to consider this before standing up and walking over to Soun, taking the money the man offered her. Walking out into the backyard, Ranma crouched low before bounding up onto the roof, her feet making a thump sound as she landed before jumping away to the next roof.

Soun looked over at his middle daughter, who had gone back to writing down certain numbers from the stock exchange close. "Exactly, how are you going to pay Ranma back, Nabiki?"

Nabiki shrugged. "Ranma's got a fear complex, so whatever he asks for is probably going to be small, whatever it is."

Soun watched her for a bit longer before shrugging it off. His fears abated for the purity of his daughters, he focused on the paper he had paid no attention to till now.

* * *

Rooftop travel was definitely the way to go. Ranma ran as fast as she could , which was pretty fast in female form, as she headed for Tofu's. She walked by Tofu's place on the way to school often enough, it was easy to find from the street or on the roofs. Rooftops distinctly won when it came to travel because no one but martial artists used them to get from Point A to Point B in a hurry. 

It took only a few minutes to make it from the Tendo's to Tofu's clinic, the jump down in front of Tofu's clinic one of the easiest things for her to do, even at full speed. The sign on the door was troubling though, Tofu had apparently stepped out and he wasn't due back for another half hour. Having nothing better to do but wait, Ranma jumped to the top of the clinic and sat, waiting.

While she waited for Tofu to come back, she thought. A lot had happened since going off with Genma, a lot of pain and misery brought on by the panda before he was a panda, a lot of near death experiences that didn't seem so scary anymore. After the first five times he had nearly died, it didn't matter much anymore. At least the nightmares would stop then.

The worst had been being sold off for food or booze, money was never something Genma had ever kept in great quantities and spent it faster than he could eat. The desires of the people had been mild for the most part, wanting company or at least a child that they could dote over for a few days before Genma would appear and kidnap him back. It was after Jusenkyo that Oyaji had shown how much he 'loved' his son, selling his child off to every pervert he could find that would hand their money over, sometimes coming in time to save him while he was in girl form.

Then there were the times he didn't come.

He could fight them off, after all, he was a martial artist no matter what form he was in. Only one time had he actually woken up to being violated by someone he didn't want to know, and didn't care to know. Feeling things a boy turned girl should never feel, Ranma had snapped and nearly killed the person, pushing them off with brute strength and nearly throwing them out a three story window to the packed earth below.

He had never slept right since, and made sure to stay semi-lucid even while sleeping to make sure that Genma never got close to him again.

Genma tried one time and had a swollen wrist for the next week for his efforts. The beating had been horrendous when he could use his hand again without wincing, but Genma never tried that stunt again.

Ranma's ear perked. Tilting her head, she listened intently for something she thought she had barely heard, something that set her danger senses screaming. She held absolutely still and waited, knowing that patience would allow another noise to trail up to her if she just waited long enough. The sound came again, muffled, but definitely there. It came from near the examining room at the back of Tofu's clinic.

Ranma hadn't seen anyone walking in through the front, and looking behind the building only showed an alleyway with no way past the concrete fence that surrounded the back, keeping strays and bums out of the property. Ranma's curiosity was starting to peak when the sound hit just barely audible, definitely a voice coming from someplace, like a window or something.

Ranma's eyes narrowed as she leapt to the back of the clinic, landing in the grass as softly as she could. There was a window above her, one she couldn't see into without casting a shadow, but it wasn't necessary to see to find out what was going on. The sounds were definitely coming from the inside of the clinic, and they reminded Ranma of wrestling, lots of panting and grunting.

The sounds came to a stop after only a few moments, breath coming under control as whatever fighting had been going on was obviously over. The fighting had nothing to do with Ranma and that's the way she wanted it.

"You're not as young as you once was." The voice of Tofu could be heard coming from the window above Ranma-chan's head. Guess he wasn't as out as the sign said.

There was silence from the second person, and Tofu chuckled in a way that made Ranma shiver. "I did fancy that redhead a bit when I saw her, your cousin so I was told." The sound of cloth rubbing against something before Tofu spoke again. "I'm amazed you can even fit into that seifuku anymore."

A seifuku? Was Tofu talking to a girl inside? Maybe they were having a late lunch together after moving something heavy, it'd explain why the door was closed and locked. Maybe he had hired a nurse.

"It's unfortunate that more girls from Furinkan don't come here. I could take such good care of them." Ranma didn't like how Tofu made that sound, making her shiver. "But you already know that, don't you?"

There was silence for a brief moment before the sound of flesh smacking against flesh cracked in the air.

"I know your mouth works, use it." Tofu's voice was cold steel now, directing whoever it was inside to speak.

"H-Hai, Tofu-dono." The girl inside acknowledge, barely understandable. Ranma's ears strained to hear that voice, it was familiar to her.

"And now for the payment." Tofu spoke smoothly, his voice as soft as silk. There was a pause that lasted for at least a minute before Tofu spoke again. "Where's the money?" the voice did not sound happy.

There was a whimper from the female.

"You didn't bring it?" Tofu's voice was barely audible and totally incredulous.

"I must have forgotten it." The voice muttered weakly, fear in that voice.

"I see." Just as audible, but now very cold and very firm. "Turn over."

There was no sound for a moment before the sound of cloth moving again came from the window. Ranma's fear was beginning to peak, making her unable to move at what she felt she knew was coming. The sounds of something hard hitting flesh repeatedly echoed from the window, yet no screams came with the sounds of a beating. Ranma knew from experience, those who screamed got ten times worse for each scream let loose.

It ended mercifully, though the sounds of sniffling could be heard coming from the window, definitely the female unable to maintain her dignity after the abuse she had just taken from Tofu.

"Get out." Tofu ordered, disgust in his voice.

The sound of someone moving inside followed by fabric moving out of the room announced to Ranma that it was over, allowing her to finally gain the ability to move. Another nightmare, not her own this time, but someone else's. Was this entire district full of people who knew nothing but how to make other people miserable?

"Definitely not as young as what she used to be." muttered the voice of Tofu, who had apparently not left the examination room. His voice chuckled darkly before what came next wrenched Ranma's gut. "Kasumi grew into quite the woman, too bad she's too old for my tastes anymore."

Ranma ran, leaping away from the back wall and to the roofs before rushing back towards the Tendo dojo. She needed to hide from what she had found out, what had been said and done. It was too close to home for her, the one person who had deserved nothing but love for everything she had done and instead got misery from someone who reminded her deeply of her father.

She flew by everyone, running through the house, leaping to the top of the stairs and racing into her room. Closing and locking the door behind herself, she curled into a corner and covered her arms over her head, trying to make the memories go away.

* * *

Kasumi came home just before the take out arrived, her back ached from her waist all the way up in between her shoulder blades. Tofu had become rougher with her over time, it seemed he really did like his girls eternally young, too much anime she guessed. She was on her way upstairs when Nabiki came from the living room, about to head upstairs and check how much money she had made off the stock markets today with the numbers she had written down. 

"Ah, sis," Nabiki said, noticing the slight jump Kasumi gave, "did Ranma catch you at Tofu's?"

Kasumi turned around gingerly, trying not to aggravate her back more. "Why would Ranma be looking for me at Tofu's?" she asked kindly, though she winced internally.

"I kinda neglected to tell you about handing daddy Tofu-san's payment for the month." Nabiki scratched the back of her head, sticking her tongue out cutely.

Kasumi internally sighed, her face showing nothing but the smile that was always fixed there. "I'm afraid I never saw Ranma. Did he come home already?"

"Yeah, not too long ago, actually." Nabiki said as she tapped her foot, crossing her arms in front of her. "Ran straight to his room and locked it. He won't come out for anyone."

Kasumi frowned. Ranma usually was so polite and would jump if asked to do so, why would he change his pattern so abruptly?

"He was flying through the house like he'd been chased by a cat again, though he certainly didn't have the glowing claws on him this time." Nabiki continued, her brow furrowed.

Kasumi was worried now, enough so to push her pain to the side and deal with someone else's. "Thank you, Nabiki. I'll see if I can talk to him before going to bed. It's been a very long day for me."

Nodding to her sister with a gentle smile, Nabiki walked up behind her and went into her room assured that Kasumi would make everything better. Kasumi walked over to Ranma's door, stopping before it and taking a breath before knocking lightly. She could hear movement inside shifting around, but no one coming to the door.

"Ranma?" Kasumi called, hearing a hollow thump from the other side of the door.

"Kasumi?" Ranma-chan's voice called from the other side, though the door remained locked.

"Is everything alright, Ranma?" Kasumi asked, placing her hand on the door in front of her. "Nabiki said that you came home running scared."

Ranma didn't answer that, in fact, Ranma didn't say anything for a few minutes. It was just as Kasumi was about to ask Ranma to open the door did she speak again. "Kasumi, can I talk to you later? Tonight perhaps?"

Kasumi didn't want to talk to anyone right now, but she had a duty to her family. "When you're ready to talk, come to my room. I'll be in there for the rest of the night."

Ranma was quiet for a moment before a muffled "Thanks, Kasumi" was heard. The sound of feet shuffling from the other side of the door was the indication that Ranma had gone back away from the door and most likely to the other side of the room. Heading to her room for a few items, Kasumi made a stop off in the bathroom before heading back to the bedroom, locking her door and leaning against it, wondering once again where things had all begun to go so wrong?

* * *

It was almost midnight before Ranma came out of her room. Looking around to make sure no one else was up, Ranma snuck over to Kasumi's door and knocked lightly. No sound came from inside so Ranma knocked louder. Again, no sound came from the other side and she was beginning to think that maybe she had come too late to say anything to Kasumi. Before she could turn around, she heard the lock click and Kasumi's door peek open, a brown eye peered out at her before the door opened a bit wider. 

"Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked a little sleepily. She had thought Ranma had decided not to talk to her after all and was just about to head to sleep.

Ranma turned around and faced Kasumi with a guilty look. She could only manage to look her in the face before she looked down at her feet, misery clearly etched on her face.

"Ranma-kun, are you alright?" Kasumi's door opened all the way, her one piece light blue nightgown shifting on her as she stepped forward to wrap Ranma in a hug.

Ranma-chan reached into her pants and pulled out a stack of yen, pushing Kasumi back before handing the money to her.

Kasumi looked confused at the money for a second, before looking at Ranma. "Where did you get this? You haven't been fighting for money again, have you?"

Ranma winced, looking for all things guiltier before speaking. "It was the money meant for Tofu."

Kasumi looked at the money in her hand with confusion. "Then why didn't you give him the money?"

Ranma swallowed, tears starting to pour from her eyes. "I…I couldn't." Ranma barely whispered. "After what he did to you…"

Kasumi pulled Ranma-chan into her room and locked the door behind her as fast as she could before she turned around and looked at Ranma critically. "What do you know?" Kasumi whispered, not sure she would like what she was going to hear.

Ranma swallowed again. "I know how he beat you when you didn't have the money on you, how he used you and talked to you as if you were me." Kasumi didn't say anything about being used like Ranma, allowing her to go on. When Ranma didn't say anything, she walked over to her bed and sat down gently, trying not to aggravate her back worse.

"Do you remember what I said yesterday about knowing someone who had changed, and I didn't recognize them anymore?" Kasumi watched Ranma as she nodded her head, tears still flowing form her eyes. Kasumi felt like crying too, but needed to be strong for the moment. "I was talking about myself, Ranma. I had to do some things for Tofu-san to keep this family afloat. Nabiki was trying so hard, it hurt to watch when she failed making money. It was affecting her school work and she was having trouble sleeping."

Kasumi sighed, not readily wanting to admit this, ever. "I went to Tofu-san for advice as to how I could help keep my family from the street while daddy mourned our mother's passing. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

Kasumi could see the guilt getting deeper on Ranma's face. "I did what any in my family would have done, Ranma. I know Nabiki would have sold her body in a heartbeat to keep us together. I'm just glad I could spare her that dishonor."

Ranma nodded, biting her lip. "I'll be right back…" Ranma seemed to whisper as she walked over to Kasumi's bedroom window and opened it before jumping out of it.

Kasumi watched in concern at the window, wondering what Ranma was up to. She soon had her answer when Ranma returned with one of Kasumi's skirts from the laundry downstairs and the first aid kit. She perched in the windowsill as if the jump from the ground to her second story window was the easiest thing in the world.

Tossing Kasumi her skirt, Ranma spoke firmly, "Put that on. I want to see your back." Rana jumped out of the window and turned to look out it, allowing Kasumi to have her modesty.

Kasumi frowned at the skirt before frowning at Ranma. She shifted her nightgown to put the skirt on before lifting the back of the nightgown over top of her head and against her chest to cover the rest of her modesty.

Ranma turned around and blushed as Kasumi stood with her back to Ranma, her nightgown curled up in front of her. "Lay down on the bed, please." Ranma quickly spoke, trying not to make this any more awkward than it was becoming. Kasumi complied carefully, making sure not to move too much.

Turning on Kasumi's room light by the door, Ranma walked back over to Kasumi and kneeled at the side of the bed, studying the damage to Kasumi's back. She had been striped with something that looked vaguely like rubber tubing, the edges where the tip of the tubing had cut into Kasumi's back was pretty obvious. Ranma moved her fingers carefully over the wounds, watching as Kasumi winced at a tender spot before Ranma moved again.

Opening the first aid kit, Ranma selected a cotton swab and the hydrogen peroxide, damping the swab in the fluid before putting the hydrogen peroxide back and using the now wet swab on her wounds. Kasumi gasped slightly at the first touches to her crusty wounds before she relaxed, not expecting Ranma to start treating them. She was gentle and slow, making sure not to press hard into them and taking a salve afterwards to apply to the red skin.

"Did he hurt you anywhere else?" Ranma asked as she continued to apply the salve to the inflamed skin.

"He likes my back." Kasumi said softly, a slight whimper stifled as the salve started to take effect. "He struck me once in the face when I was younger, but I played it off as being klutzy and striking a telephone pole on my way home."

"And your front?" Ranma asked.

Kasumi hesitated, hitching before speaking softly. "Not this time." She whispered.

Ranma winced, shifting her face to stillness.

Kasumi felt sleep starting to steal over her, even though she was in pain. Ranma's hands were being gentle, and the stroking motion of them applying the cooling salve to her back was making her relax. She wondered about Ranma once again, on how even as a girl, he was the gentlest man she had ever known.

Ranma replaced the cap to the salve and placed it back in the first aid kit, closing the kit as Kasumi sat up and slid her nightgown back over her head. Ranma took the first aid kid with her back over to the window and jumped out, making no sound as she landed in the back yard near the kitchen. She waited patiently for Ranma to come back so she could talk to her, removing the skirt so that she could put her nightgown back into place.

She waited, and waited a little longer before realizing Ranma wasn't coming back to her room. She stood up and looked out the window, looking for Ranma's red hair in the night, but was unable to locate her anywhere in the yard. Closing her window, she unlocked her door before looking in Ranma's room and then the first floor.

She couldn't find Ranma anywhere in the house, beginning to worry what could have happened to her. Walking out to the dojo proved to be futile as well as the lights were out and no sounds could be heard coming from inside. Biting her lower lip, she could only wonder what happened to her houseguest.

* * *

She woke up later than she normally would, five o'clock was not the normal time for Kasumi Tendo to wake up at. Worried as to what happened to Ranma, she went downstairs slightly tired from lack of sleep to start a late breakfast only to find that it was nearly finished being made by the black haired boy. Ranma stepped around the kitchen, oblivious to Kasumi watching him from the doorway as he finished stirring the miso and checked the rice one last time. 

"Ranma?" Kasumi called from the back door of the kitchen by the laundry room.

Ranma froze, looking at Kasumi as if a deer caught in the headlights of a car.

"Where did you go last night?" Kasumi asked, stepping into the kitchen. She made sure she kept eye contact with him, her gaze worried.

"I had to go for a walk." Ranma muttered, averting his eyes from Kasumi's.

She began to ask where when Akane came down the stairs by the doorway, dressed for her early morning jog in her off yellow gi, headband held in place to keep her air out of her face. "I'm going ou.." Akane cut off, noticing Ranma in the kitchen, Kasumi at the other end with a worried look in her eyes. "What are you doing with my sister, you pervert?" she growled, hand reflexively reaching over her shoulder for her mallet.

"I needed some help this morning in the kitchen, Akane." Kasumi spoke up immediately, hoping to stop the beating that was sure to come when Ranma didn't defend himself. "I woke up late and needed a hand."

Akane ignored Ranma to favor her sister with a indignant pout. "I could have helped you with breakfast, onee-chan."

"You'll never be ready for the gymnastics meet if you help her out." Ranma spoke, walking past Kasumi as he headed out the backdoor and into the yard.

"I don't need your advice, Ranma." Akane growled at the retreating boy's back as he disappeared outside. Sniffing to no one, Akane stormed out of the house and began her jog through Nerima.

Kasumi didn't see Ranma after that, not even seeing him coming back in from wherever he disappeared to before school started. Nearly an hour later, Akane came running into the house, waking the rest of her family with her shout.

"There's a terrorist loose in Nerima!" Akane called as she rushed in the front doorway, throwing the door open with a slam.

The sounds from upstairs announced that Nabiki had been awakened by the shout and had fallen out of bed. Soun came running from his room on the first floor and came around the hallway corner dressed in his brown gi, looking at his youngest daughter. Nabiki managed to open her door and head to the top of the stairs, though obviously grumpy about being waken so rudely.

"What's this about a terrorist loose in Nerima?" Soun asked as Kasumi walked into sight from the kitchen, watching the commotion.

"Dr. Tofu's clinic was destroyed last night." Akane announced, getting a gasp from Kasumi and a narrowed stare from Nabiki. "People are saying that they heard something last night that sounded a little like a window breaking, and when Tofu arrived this morning, he found his clinic leveled, as if it had collapsed from the inside out."

Soun's home phone began ringing, the head of the family stepping over to it and answering it while the daughter's watched silently. "Yes?" Soun asked into the phone, his eyes hard. He listened to whatever was on the other side, his face growing grim. "I'll be there right away." He hung the phone up, his hand resting on the receiver as he thought.

"Well, daddy?" Nabiki asked, curious as to what was said on the phone.

Soun looked up as if realizing he was standing in the foyer. "That was the secretary of the Nerima council. There's an emergency meeting being assembled about Tofu's clinic." Walking back to the shoe stand next to the doorway, he slid his getas on before standing. "Don't wait up for me, this may be awhile." Soun spoke before heading out into the morning.

"Breakfast is ready." Kasumi barely spoke, turning back into the kitchen.

Nabiki and Akane both went back to their rooms, trading their clothing for their school uniforms. Breakfast was quiet with Nabiki asking what had happened to Ranma and why he wasn't in his room. Kasumi mentioned needing his help in the kitchen after waking up late, but not seeing him since. Nabiki's face furrowed, her chopsticks resting on her lips at what could have happened to Saotome.

Kasumi handed Nabiki Ranma's bento and bid everyone goodbye for the day before walking into the dojo and taking a seat at the table, her face a crease of worry. "Oh Ranma, what did you do?"

* * *

Nabiki had to see it for herself. 

Staring at the wreckage that had been the profession of Tofu Ono, Nabiki wondered what kind of bomb had gone off inside of it for the building to just drop down on its own foundation. Buildings in Nerima were well constructed, nothing shoddy was ever put up. Construction crews in Nerima had too much work to be lazy or shoddy.

She started sending out questions on her cell phone to people she knew, those heading to school and those who were running their jobs. She wanted information on what happened to Tofu's clinic, and who had a grudge against the doctor.

She was nearly late to school, walking through the gates to the main yard of Furinkan High. She also noticed a stranger coincidence that more than one person was wondering about. The Hentai Horde wasn't strewn across the front lawn, nor were there impact marks of a mallet being used to beat someone into the ground, except where one kendoist was laying face down.

Things were getting only weirder when by lunch time, people were coming to her to ask what changed for the Hentai Horde to give up, and what Ranma had to do with it. Unable to answer any questions just yet, Nabiki made another inquiry to her associates to tell her what happened while she had missed the gathering of the horde de hentai.

Ranma had apparently met each pervert one at a time as they came to school. They had talked for only a matter of seconds before walking off, staring at Ranma. Ranma had confronted Kuno for the longest time, trying to obviously talk sense into the kendoist and failing miserably. There had been a quick rabbit punch to Kuno's stomach and the kendoist collapsed where he had been hit.

About that time, Akane came into the yard and waited for the horde to appear for a few minutes. When it was obvious that they weren't going to make an appearance, she marched over to Kuno and hit him once in the back of the head before walking off into the school. Nabiki had arrived soon afterwards.

Asking if they had found out why the Hentai Horde had abandoned their attempts to date Akane, all any of them would say is that they liked breathing.

Nabiki went to the tree at lunch, knowing where she could find Ranma. Sitting in between Yuka and Sayuri as they talked with a barely responsive Ranma, Nabiki approached. "Ranma, can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked, getting Yuka and Sayuri's attention almost immediately.

"This is about the guys that fight Akane, isn't it?" Sayuri asked as she went starry eyed as she looked at Ranma.

"I asked them to stop going after Akane." Ranma answered, not looking up from his feet.

Nabiki noticed the resigned look on his face. "As nice as that sounds, how did you convince them?" She waited a few seconds, assuming that he wasn't going to answer. "Did you know that Tofu's clinic was demolished some time last night?"

"It was kinda freaky, walking by his place." Yuka said with a shiver. "I live nearby the clinic and I didn't hear anything that would have woken me up from my sleep."

Nabiki eyed Yuka. "You're sure you didn't hear anything?" she asked, wondering if the terrorist comment Akane was shouting that morning had some credence to it.

Yuka nodded. "It'll make me feel better now when I go home." Nabiki raised an eyebrow at that. "He was really creepy when he watches me walk home from school."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Sayuri spoke, never seeing Ranma's eyebrow twitch. "I have to walk around his clinic every time I go to see you. His eyes made me feel dirty every time he stares at me."

Nabiki's eyebrows furrowed. She had never heard about Tofu doing anything improper with his clients. Then again, the only young girls that ever went to his place were the Tendo's. Handing Ranma his bento, Nabiki walked off to think in private.

* * *

Nabiki didn't believe in coincidences. She had asked around many of the girls from the school who lived near Tofu's clinic and many of them had confirmed what Yuka and Sayuri had said. It wasn't just Kasumi that seemed to make the good doctor dance around with betty. It was any girl dressed in a short seifuku that looked underage. Furinkan's school uniform wasn't quite the sailor suits that a seifuku would normally look like, but they were close enough. 

Looking into Tofu's background was a bit harder. She had contacts at the records department in town, but it had meant using that contact up to get the information she wanted. She didn't like what she had found out.

Tofu, before coming to Nerima nearly the same time that the Tendo's had lost their mother due to illness, had apparently been kicked out of many districts for improper conduct with some of the local children he practiced at. Many records which had been sealed for confidentiality purposes hinted at improper and even lewd acts on some of the girls that he got his hands on. His family, being as wealthy as they were, paid off anyone who had a grievance with the doctor before packing up his clinic and moving him into a new ward.

This didn't sit well with Nabiki. Kasumi had been handling the bills for Tofu for over six years and had never mentioned Tofu doing anything improper to her. In fact, it was a new record for Tofu to stay in one place. Apparently he couldn't keep his hands off the local girls where he had come from before.

Nabiki went down to the kitchen where her sister was in the process of cooking dinner. Looking out into the living room, she could see Ranma and Soun sparring in the yard while the sounds of frustration echoed into the house from the dojo. Apparently, Akane wasn't doing so well in her training.

"Kasumi." Nabiki spoke from the doorway next to the living room, crossing her arms in front of her as she leaned on the doorframe. "You haven't been paying Tofu money, have you?"

Kasumi froze, her body going rigid as she nearly dropped her spoon. "Did Ranma…?" she hesitantly asked Nabiki over her shoulder, not turning her face to her.

"Ranma knew?" Nabiki asked calmly, pieces of the puzzle falling into place.

Kasumi looked over to her younger sister in resignation. "I think he found out yesterday."

Nabiki seethed in anger. "Why didn't you tell me anything? I could have helped." She spoke calmly, her face anything but.

"You were having enough trouble here trying to balance the household budget while father cried over mother's death." Kasumi put her wooden spoon down before turning to her sister, her face filled with shame. "I did what I had to do for all of us. I can understand that you're disappointed in me."

Nabiki walked up to her sister before slapping her face with her hand. "You should never have kept this secret from me." Nabiki seethed. "I would have found a way to help you, help all of us." She watched as the tears pooled in Kasumi's eyes before reaching around her sister and pulling her into her embrace.

"I'm sorry, Kasumi." Nabiki whispered to her sister as Kasumi broke down into her sister's shoulder "I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough." Nabiki's eyes watered up as she could feel her own tears coming to her.

"Is something wrong?" Soun asked as he walked into the kitchen, wondering why his children were weeping on each others shoulders.

"We were reminiscing on the past, daddy." Nabiki spoke for them as Kasumi cries started to slow. "Just wishing things had gone differently."

Soun felt guilt wrack through him at his daughter's open anguish. Nodding his head, he turned and left them to their bonding, cursing his weakness from so long ago.

* * *

The week fled quickly. Kasumi was subdued in her kitchen while Akane used the dojo to train, Nabiki barricaded herself in her room doing whatever it was that Nabiki's do. Ranma sparred with Soun in the new style of Musabetsu Kakuto they were refining, developing new strikes and feints everyday. It was only on the weekend that the routine ended, Akane going ahead of her family as she went to prepare for the rhythmic gymnastics competition. 

Soun sat in the stands, watching as girls in leotards dueled with each other with batons and clubs, ribbons and hoops. He had never seen a martial arts gymnastics competition before, now understanding why the friend of Akane's had come and asked her to be in the competition as the alternate. Aerial combat was a required of the original Musabetsu Kakuto of the Tendo's, and with the leaps and general posing as they struck, he guessed that Akane may make a valiant showing.

Nabiki sat next to him, and beside her was Ranma in his guy form. Kasumi sat on Ranma's other side, keeping the boy between them so that he would remain calm. He had become skittish as he realized how many people were going to be here, but had managed to not twitch too badly as people cheered for their favorite.

As the last match was being announced, Ranma sat up straighter and seemed to freeze in place. Soun looked over at Ranma, feeling Ranma's aura surging up, not yet in the physical spectrum, but definitely rising. He seemed to be staring down at something across the other side of the ring where the tournament was going on at, but Soun couldn't tell who he was looking at.

"Excuse me," Ranma said as he stood up, "I need to go to the bathroom."

Walking carefully through the isles and heading down the stairs, Kasumi and Nabiki eyed each other in confusion.

Akane came onto the mat that was the competition, raising her hand and waving to her friends in the crowd, cheering from Furinkan High becoming near deafening. From the other side of the mat stepped a hooded figure in all black. With a flourish that spun black rose petals around herself, Kodachi Kuno posed with a black rose held in her lips as she tossed her cloak away.

Words seemed to pass between Kodachi and Akane on the mat before the match went underway, Soun's eyes not watching them as he noticed Ranma step into sight near the ring. He walked over and talked to what appeared to be Doctor Tofu who turned once to the ring with a look of regret before nodding and following Ranma out of the arena. Looking to his side where Nabiki and Kasumi were sitting, they apparently had not seen Ranma down there.

The sound of a bell rang before being drowned out by a cheer from both Furinkan and St. Hebereke sides as Kodachi led with a ribbon she had procured from somewhere on her body. Leaping into the air to avoid a poorly thrown hoop that cut into the mat, Kodachi seemed to lash out with it as if it were a whip, making Akane dodge ungainly to avoid being hit.

The fight steadily went downhill for Akane. She attempted to use the ball against Kodachi while she still held her trusty ribbon, getting hit with her own ball as Kodachi seemed to make the ribbon grab the ball in the air and spun it back into Akane's side. Managing to get to her own ribbon, Akane was able to tangle her own ribbon into Kodachi's as they struggled to pull each of them free.

Kodachi pulled out a club and charged Akane, making her stumble backwards before she could recover and took a strike to her head and ribs before she dropped the ribbon and tried to defend herself with her arms. Akane was clearly outmatched, being bludgeoned over and over by the club as Kodachi dropped her own ribbon, substituting a second club into her hand and drubbing a beating into Akane over and over again.

Akane tried to punch and kick Kodachi, but Kodachi laughed shrilly before she stepped back and taunted Akane. She came back in at her opponent, her clubs blurring around Akane as Kodachi stepped the pace up. Akane dropped to one knee before Kodachi would step away from her, cartwheeling backwards to come to her own ball and lash out with it, catching Akane in the head over and over again as she leapt to retrieve the ball and throw it hard back into Akane's head and face.

Picking up her hoop, Kodachi moved in for the kill as one of the tunnelways leading back toward the main thoroughfare shattered into the arena, a body flying through the air hitting Kodachi and knocking her from the ring. The referee and the judges ran over to inspect what had happened to Kodachi and who had struck her before shouting that the match had been interrupted and Furinkan had lost by default, as the person had struck and knocked out the St. Hebereke girl.

The Tendo's stood up and made their way down to the arena while people shouted at the unfairness of the loss, saying that the judges had rigged the match for St. Hebereke to win or claiming that Kodachi herself had done it deliberately, though she had obviously been winning to begin with.

Soun jumped up onto the mat and helped his youngest daughter to her feet on wobbly legs, holding her head as she winced. Kasumi's gasp brought Soun and Akane over as they walked by the gathering crowd. Pulled off of Kodachi and being patched up by the doctor on hand for the competition was a severely beaten Tofu Ono.

* * *

**This chapter should not have been written, I don't like what Kasumi had gone through, but feel that if this story is to continue in the vein it is, this had to be written. Kinda sad that Tofu was made out to be a bag guy. Who has ever seen a bad Tofu?**

**Final Note: the last chapter I posted, I checked the stats on this story and saw that I was in six c2's. The day after I posted the previous chapter, this story was in nine c2's. Thank you all for taking the time to read this and for liking it even though it is dark, and thank you all for the 12,000+ hits. I only hope that this doesn't offend you as badly as it offended myself.**


	9. Potty Training for Dummies

**Took long enough for me to think this chapter up. Did the dark and gloomy thing in the last chapter, so this one was an attempt at something a bit lighter, we'll see if I hit the barn or not. (stands five feet away from a barn with a scattergun in hand)**

**Disclaimer: Takahashi Rumiko-sama did not allow this lowly and worthless one permission to write a fanfic like this. There is no self insert, no over abundant happiness prevalent through the story, and very few wisecracks and prat falls. I'm very sorry to be such a failure.**

**G.B.: I've evaded assassins, ninjas, ninja pet monkies, bounty hunters, hippies, and the occasional hillary clinton voter to bring you this chapter. Now if only I can figure out how to get the love off of me...**

* * *

"Shampoo." The aged voice of Cologne called from the back of the kitchen. They had bought the building not too long ago and had liked the kitchen the way it came, though the tables were going to take a day or two to arrive. "Shampoo, where are you?"

Silence met her ears.

Pogoing out into the main dining area, she listened to the street noise outside the building and for any sounds from the second floor where the bed rooms were located. She sighed softly to herself as she shook her head. "I take my eyes off of her for one minute and she disappears."

As she turned to head back into the kitchen, the front doors slid open to the street outside and a shadow loomed over the entrance.

"We're closed, come back…?" Cologne started as she looked at who had entered. "Oh, it's you." Her face didn't lose its poker faced stare as she stared at who was in the doorway. "You brought what I requested then?"

A small bag was tossed from the shadowed doorway to Cologne, who caught it deftly before making it disappear up her sleeve.

"Are you staying or going back?" Cologne asked, watching the face of the person in her doorway. She smiled slyly to it before saying, "I'm afraid she's not here right now. She's most likely gone looking for that girl who came to our village some time ago with the panda."

The shadow turned, about to leave.

"Just so you know, the girl has a Jusenkyo curse." Cologne called out, causing the person to hesitate before looking back into the shop. "She's not actually a girl at all, but a boy."

The figure wasted no time as they jumped up and away from the shop, leaving the front door open. Pogoing over to the open doorway, she narrowed her eyes as she watched them disappear over the rooftops. Shaking her head, she turned back for the inner parts of the building, and the kitchen. "Kids these days, no manners when it comes to doorways." She spoke as she closed the front door behind herself.

* * *

"When do I get the training manuals?" Akane asked her father over lunch at the dining room table. She had been asking her father since last night after Tofu's untimely interruption.

"Seeing as how you didn't win, you won't be getting them." Soun spoke, placing his chopsticks down and looking at his youngest daughter. Akane opened her mouth to protest. "However," Soun spoke before her, cutting her off, "since you didn't lose either, you can still practice Anything Goes." Soun watched the glower on his youngest daughter's face.

Kasumi and Ranma watched the conversation between the Patriarch and his child, Kasumi's face worried while Ranma's mildly interested. Nabiki kept her eyes on the food while sitting next to Akane and Ranma.

"If you wish to continue the school, I will give you another option." Soun offered, allowing Akane this concession. "Since your fight was interrupted and the match given to the other girl, I will accept another way for you to prove yourself in the art."

"And that is?" Akane asked with a little suspicion.

"Go to any of the other dojos and hand them this letter." Soun pulled a folded letter from his gi, handing it to Akane. She began looking at the insides of the letter while Soun continued. "Defeat anyone from the third best to the top student at any school of martial arts here in Nerima, and I will consider the first part done. You must win against three different school's style and then defeat Kasumi in a match."

Nabiki, Kasumi, and Ranma looked at Soun with a variation of surprise. Akane looked at Kasumi as if her sister had been plotting this from the beginning.

"You must defeat the three different schools before you can fight Kasumi." Soun added as Akane opened her mouth. Her jaw clicked shut loudly. "You may also take as long as you need, but if you lose the letter, then you lose outright."

Akane stood up, wiping her mouth on her napkin before tossing it onto her rice. "I'll be back later tonight to challenge Kasumi." She spoke firmly before turning and walking out of the house, the front door banging with her irritation.

Kasumi turned to her father. "But I'm not ready to face Akane, father." Her face looked shocked and near ready to faint.

Soun smiled wistfully. "If she can beat the three students of three separate schools in one day, I have highly underestimated her."

"That wasn't very nice, Daddy." Nabiki said, looking her father over as if deciding what to make of him. "She's going to be a pain to be around for as long as it takes her to defeat those people."

Soun sighed as he crossed his arms in front of himself again. "Obviously telling her that she can't use Anything Goes hasn't done anything for her except making her rail and pout. If she sees with her own eyes that her skill is marginal at best, she might give up on her own and join us with learning the new art I'm making."

Nabiki wondered if her father knew his younger daughter at all, or if he'd been replaced by some pod person.

"Still," Kasumi continued her defense, "I can't fight Akane."

Soun smiled to his eldest daughter. "You can defeat Akane, Kasumi. I've seen you practice and even with the little me and Ranma have shown you, you could give her quite a fight. Besides," Soun sighed again as his voice dropped in volume, "if I had her fight Ranma in female form, she would simply say she had been cheated."

"But still…" Kasumi could understand her father in that regard, and the hatred Akane already had for Ranma would be that much worse.

"Anyways, I think you three should get out of the house today." Soun spoke happily with a smile on his face. "I have a meeting with Mrs. Saotome later today after a brief meeting with the Nerima council about the repair of Tofu's clinic, so I expect the three of you to go out and enjoy yourselves today."

Again, Kasumi looked as if she was going to protest. She had never missed a day to clean her household, leaving it undone made her itch all over in discomfort. When she felt Ranma's hand touch hers underneath the tabletop, she closed her mouth and nodded slowly, accepting the day off for the moment.

"If we're going out, I'd better go get my camera." Nabiki said as she stood up, finished with her lunch. "Money never sleeps and definitely doesn't make itself."

* * *

Kodachi couldn't ever remember a day she had ever been happier.

The match had gone smoothly, ridiculously so. The girl, Akane Tendo, had been less than a problem for her. Her martial arts skills had been evident, if you could call them that, and she had almost gotten herself forfeited for trying to punch and kick at her. Martial Arts Gymnastics didn't involve physical confrontation, you were supposed to fight with the weapons you could get your hands on. It would have been all the better if she had managed to knock the peasant out with her own skills if it hadn't been for that doctor.

She found out quickly who the man was, Tofu Ono, a doctor of ill repute. Banned from practicing in several different wards, he had come to Nerima where he had hoped to blend in with the general weirdness, which seemed to have been working until his sudden interference in her match. It still allowed her to win, but she had been publicly humiliated by him, and she wouldn't allow such a slight to go without some retributuion.

She would deal with him later, right now she had to make herself presentable for her Hero, Ranma.

The peasant girl had been more than kind enough to hand her the name she had been longing for. It was only later that she realized she could have gotten the information from Sasuke, but more enjoyable to take it before beating her opponent silly. Making sure that her black leotard was in place and not a wrinkle could be found nor a smudge of dirt anywhere on her personage, she picked her ribbon up and hopped through her house until she made it outside.

Leaping to the rooftops and jumping away, the echos of an ear piercing laughter rolled through the streets below. "Wait for me, my beloved hero. I shall take you away from those peasants and show you what love truly is!"

* * *

Walking through the downtown marketplace, Kasumi had suggested getting Ranma more clothing since their last 'aborted' shopping trip. Five sets of Chinese clothes do not a martial artist make, or at least Nabiki agreed with the statement. All three of them walked into Kirabiyaka's place, at which point the happy man leapt from someplace in the shop to glomp onto Ranma.

"Ah, the hero who saved my most modest business!" The man practically squealed with delight while doing something vaguely indecent to Ranma's leg. "I'm so happy to have you back in my shop!"

Nabiki turned to her sister while a huge sweatdrop appeared on Ranma's head. "Is Kirabi always like that with people who save him from grievous bodily harm?"

Kasumi could only smile through a wince as she watched, her own sweatdrop appearing over her head.

"And Kasumi hime-chan, welcome back to Kirabiyaka's clothing emporium." Kirabiyaka seemed to materialize next to the eldest girl, hugging her as if his life depended on it.

"It's good to see you, Kirabi-chan." Kasumi spoke, her voice slightly shaky after the display of open affection Kirabiyaka had been giving Ranma.

"So what can I help you ladies with today?" Kirabiyaka asked, placing one hand on his hip while putting the other under his chin. He eyed Ranma's backside for a bit while he waited.

"We actually came for more clothing for Ranma." Nabiki spoke for them. Kasumi was obviously trying not to die from embarrassment from the open affection of the man first on Ranma and then herself.

"And you came to my store, oh bless the both of you." Kirabiyaka's hands were clasped together before his stubbly face, the heavy mascara on his eyelashes detracting from the sudden stars shining brightly in his eyes.

Ranma walked off into the clothing store, Nabiki and Kasumi tailing after with an absolutely thrilled Kirabiyaka nearly prancing behind them. Clothes selection had been fairly easy, though the reason for Nabiki's camera came into play as both she and Kirabiyaka began dressing Ranma up in various styles of clothes. Some of the clothes they had him wear were sheer enough to be see through whereas some were barely clothing, pieces of fabric if anything else.

When Kirabiyaka brought out a black leather full body outfit with matching face mask that suspiciously had a zipper where the mouth would be, they took their gathered buys into their arms and fled, blushes standing on Kasumi's and Nabiki's face.

Ranma mentioned something about how leather was a bit tight on him as they pushed him through the door and out into the street beyond.

They took the time to drop off the bags of clothing and the camera at the house before going out once again. Walking off through town without any place in particular to go to, Nabiki asked a question that had been bothering her since Ranma had arrived.

"What exactly is with the collar and leash?" She looked over at Ranma to see his reaction

Ranma gently took his hand from Kasumi's as he reached up and felt the leather collar and lead. His eyes flickered momentarily before seeming to snap back into reality. "That was my dad's idea." Ranma explained without any emotion in his voice. "Some of the women liked the idea of having their own 'boy toy' they could lead around like a pet, while others simply thought it an accessory after trying to remove it."

"Why don't you take it off?" Kasumi asked, reaching up to take Ranma's hand in hers once again. She did like the feel of his hand in hers, though she'd be hard pressed to say why.

"I got used to wearing it." Ranma said with a shrug. "Oyaji never removed it and even used the lead to help me keep up with him when I was younger."

Nabiki looked suspiciously at the collar around Ranma's neck. It didn't look that old. "When was the first time he put that thing on you?" Nabiki asked, her voice suspicious.

Ranma tilted his head to one side. "I don't remember." He spoke softly.

Kasumi watched Nabiki and Ranma talk, watching Ranma react to his surroundings unconsciously. Sometimes when a person would go walking by them with a slightly different gait or presence, Ranma tensed up to near rigid proportions. It was almost like he could tell the regular people from the martial artists who walked the streets in plain clothes.

That was tossed out the window a moment later when a lovely young woman dressed a kimono walked past them. For all intents and purposes, she looked like a very normal woman, if dressed a bit unconventionally for normal day people. Everything about her screamed traditional female, right down to the wooden getas on her feet, which didn't make any sense to Kasumi as to why Ranma would nearly lock up at the sight of her.

It was only after she had walked off that Ranma looked over his shoulder at the woman, Nabiki following his line of sight while they kept him moving forward. "See something you like, Saotome?" Nabiki crooned in Ranma's ear, making his hair bristle.

"Nothing I ever want to be a part of again." Ranma spoke back without any emotion, turning face forward as they continued to walk. Nabiki gave Kasumi a curious look before continuing on.

Stopping at a diner for a late lunch and something to drink, they continued off in no particular direction. Eventually they ended up in front of Tofu's lot, the wreckage of the building being sifted through and taken away by a few construction workers and a truck. They watched for a little while with mixed emotions in their party. Nabiki watched with an unreadable look on her face shifting from a smirk to a thinking one, as if the justice done was not nearly enough for what happened to him. Kasumi had a guilty look on her face and couldn't look at the wreckage, too many bad memories locked within the grounds.

Ranma turned his head and looked back the way they came, his attention on something altogether different with what was going on. Perched on a roof not too far away from the traveling party was a lavender haired girl riding a ten speed bike. She stared openly down at Ranma from a distance, the wind above the houses pulling at her hair.

"Do you think he'll rebuild?" Kasumi asked softly, barely catching Ranma's attention.

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that too much, Kasumi." Nabiki commented, her voice hard and sure. "If he does come back, I think he'll find it hard to stay open with no clients."

"We should move on." Ranma said, tugging at their arms. He didn't look back to let them know they were being followed.

They made their way home slowly, the sun beginning to set on the horizon and the people beginning to move inside for the night and off the streets. It had been spread that there may be some powerful terrorist or someone with a tendency to destroy residences of well respected people, and no one wanted to confront someone like that.

Ranma's hands let go from Nabiki and Kasumi nearly at the same time before pushing the girls forward and under him moments before a metal ball the size of a watermelon nearly crashed into them from the side, punching a hole deep into the concrete wall next to them. He was off of them the instant he heard the chain pull the ball free from the concrete, jumping away and above them.

A shadow cut the air above them, fabric rippling as it passed over their heads.

Nabiki and Kasumi came to their feet, looking around. A long black haired person in a white robe and blue pants went jumping over a house. "Think it's someone else from China looking for Ranma?" Nabiki asked as she took off with her sister to follow the jumping attacker.

"What makes you think they're from China?" Kasumi asked as they ran after them.

* * *

Ranma dodged from one chain only to nearly leap into another. He didn't look back, only moved forward as he distanced himself from the girls. He wouldn't involve them in this, it was his past, and he had to deal with it. A sword nearly took him unaware in mid flight before he twisted out of the way, relying on the Anything Goes art to dodge the things he couldn't see with his eyes, relying on the other senses as they came too close.

It wasn't right that he was allowed to use Anything Goes while Akane couldn't. Soun had banned the art to the Tendo's, but he was not a Tendo, was he? He was a lure for trouble, a cursed person who would bring pain and misery to him no matter where he went. It would only be a matter of time before he would draw something to him that he wouldn't be able to handle, then where would the family that had took him in be at?

He noticed a park as he jumped again, shifting his body in mid-air to head for it even as the chains reached for him once again, grasping the air at his heels. He managed to make it into the park before the chains finally snagged his ankle, pulling him out of the air and into the ground, roughly knocking the wind from him.

"You can't escape from me, Ranma Saotome!" A male voice shouted as the chain tugged tightly, preventing him from standing on it. "I've been looking all over for you since you stole my Shampoo from me!"

Ranma twisted out of the way as a scimitar and a battle axe embedded themselves in the ground he had fallen onto.

"Face me, you coward!" The white robed boy shouted as he threw his sleeve forward, landing but a moment later while a javelin and several throwing stars flew out from his sleeve.

Ranma jumped underneath the projectiles, twisting in mid-air to avoid the throwing stars before looking at his attacker. The boy was as young as he was, though his glasses were of a thickness that would make telescopes envious. Long white robes hung from his body covering his hands and falling a good foot from them while he stood there with a chain dangling from one sleeve. Flicking the hand to the side without the chain springing forth from the sleeve, several swords materialized from inside the boy's robes.

Ranma stood carefully, maintaining his balance as the chain whipped back into the sleeve before going taut. As if the chain snapping tight was a signal, the boy leapt into the air and jabbed his bladed arm at Ranma. Flicking his leg up and snapping the chain before him, Ranma caused a loop to spin back toward the myopic boy before jumping back and tightening the loop as it crossed over the weapons.

Using his leg to tighten the chain again before the boy could give it any slack, Ranma wrenched the swords from the boy's sleeves. "That's not too bad, Saotome." The boy grudgingly spoke as he flicked his hand, more swords and sabers appearing. "But I've got a lot more weapons than you do luck!"

Learning from his first mistake, the boy began to slide the chain in rapidly as he approached Ranma, making sure to give him nothing to use back against him. Ranma followed the chain, stepping under a wild slice and coming bodily together with the boy. Glasses stared at blue eyes for a second before he realized that at such a close range, he wouldn't be able to strike Ranma with his weapons.

Feeling the chain come loose from his ankle, Ranma leapt back almost instantly while the white robed boy swung his blades, stepping back to make room for his attacks. Ranma didn't know why the guy was going on about him, he hadn't done a thing to Shampoo. If anything, Shampoo had been the one to follow him all the way from China to here and wouldn't go away.

I mean, she even followed him to the park and was aiming a ten speed for a lethal throw. Obviously not taken by Ranma.

The bike chime was all the warning the robed boy had before a cruise missile like object with two wheels crashed into the back of his head, knocking him forcefully to the ground. Hopping down from a nearby tree, the lavender haired Shampoo stood over the unconscious robed boy.

_"Stupid Mousse. I told you once already I want nothing to do with you."_ The Chinese girl spat in her own language as she stared contemptuously down at him.

Springing to life as if the bike had been nothing to him, Mousse turned and glomped hold of Shampoo. _"I came to rescue you the moment I knew where you had gone to, my love."_ Mousse spoke rapidly in Chinese as he rubbed his cheek against hers.

Rama watched as the young Amazon girl quickly beat down the myopic boy into the dirt.

_"You think I like being protected from my friends and boys who were only there because great grandma sent them with messages to tell me something?"_ Shampoo spat into the back of the now smoking boy after the fierce beating he took.

The boy sprang to his feet once again, his pain forgotten. _"I just wanted to make sure that no one takes advantage of you."_ Mousse spoke quickly, looking earnestly into Shampoo's face.

Shampoo calmly reached up and plucked the boy's glasses from his face. Believing he was about to be kissed by his one true love, Mousse closed his eyes and puckered his lips. The beating he got this time was much worse.

Wanting to make sure he felt the beating, Shampoo made sure to walk over him as she walked up to Ranma.

_"I'm very sorry that he treated you that way."_ Shampoo said as she bowed before him.

Ranma took a step back to avoid touching Shampoo. _"He says I stole you from the village. Does anyone else think I stole you from your home?"_ He made sure he didn't touch Shampoo at all, who knows how she'd try to get married to him.

Shampoo frowned momentarily before standing back up to Ranma. _"The entire village knows he's not only blind enough to be incompetent, but he's also fixated on me."_ She sighed as she looked back at the still smoking Mousse. _"I have never been properly courted by anyone because of his fixation on me. He may be weak when it comes to close combat, but his hidden weapons style is one of the best in the village."_

By this time, Nabiki and Kasumi ran into the park and noticed Ranma standing next to Shampoo with the robed boy that had nearly killed them smoking in the ground. "Ranma, are you ok?" Nabiki commented as both she and Kasumi panted slightly from the run, unused to moving so fast over a great distance.

Kasumi and Nabiki came to a stop not too far away from Ranma, leaving the unconscious boy between them. Shampoo, not wanting to be bothered by the girls who had been with Ranma all day kicked Mousse's foot, which seemed to bring him out of his unconsciousness.

He rose and struck at the same time, though facing the wrong direction. Bringing his hands up with a flash, Nabiki and Kasumi both were thrown back a few feet from the near miss.

"Behold, Saotome! One of the many techniques developed by the hidden weapons style of the Joketsuzoku Amazons!" He stepped forward as he called out his attack, "Fist of the White Swan!"

The two legged jump kick to the back of his head made Mousse falter as Ranma plowed into him. Stumbling forward, Mousse turned and called out again as he struck toward his attacker. "Fist of the White Swan!"

Ranma caught what looked like a white duck shaped training potty in one hand by the neck, Mousse's hands holding it from behind and under as the bill came nearly close enough to touch Ranma's forehead. Ranma was glowing blue around the edges as one of his hands reflexively unfurled long blue claws. His face was emotionless as he stared into the unbelieving face of Mousse.

"But that's…" Mousse managed to say before the resounding sound of cookware sent him into dreamland.

Everyone but the now unconscious Mousse stared at Kasumi as she held a frying pan in her hand like a racquet. The kitchenware was glowing softly with a red aura. Kasumi looked over at her sister who was staring at the frying pan in her hands with mild surprise. "He nearly hit us with a training potty, Nabiki. I was being nice up until then."

Shampoo, Ranma, and Nabiki thought one thing simultaneously. _"Scary."_

With his target knocked out, Ranma's aura guttered out. Looking over to Shampoo, he pointed down at the boy in the dirt. "I'd take him to your great grandmother, if I were you. She's not going to like the fact that he nearly attacked innocent people."

Shampoo frowned as she looked down at Mousse before nodding. Picking the unconscious boy and slinging him over her shoulder, she picked up her bent bike and gave one last longing look at Ranma before glancing over his shoulders to Nabiki and Kasumi. She jumped up and away, leaping from a tree branch to a nearby roof, heading back to their place of business.

"Ranma." Nabiki spoke, drawing his attention to her. "What was his deal anyways?" She pointed off after the disappearing Amazon and her cargo.

Ranma watched them disappear over the rooftops before answering. "Love, I suppose."

* * *

Akane was furious.

Coming home after being summarily dismissed at the doors of several dojos after merely mentioning the name of her school, she had no choice but to return home and find other schools of martial arts. The fact that they were scared of how great her skills were had nothing to do with it, only the fact that their male haughtiness and cowardly acts had shown to her once again how little men mattered.

She was just in sight of the gate to the house when she heard the familiar sounds of Nabiki talking to Kasumi from a side street. "I didn't know you could do something like that, Kasumi." Nabiki's voice seemed to call up the street. "Where did it come from anyways?"

There was a hesitation before Kasumi's confused voice spoke. "I'm really not sure. It was a surprise to me as well after I had knocked that poor boy out."

Akane twisted her index finger in her ear, not believing she had heard that right.

"Can you do it any time you want to, like Akane?" Nabiki asked, her voice holding curiosity in its grip.

"I don't imagine so." Kasumi's voice sounded a bit upset, her voice stronger as they approached from down the street in front of her. "I was very upset at him for trying to hit us with a training potty."

Nabiki shook her head. "Better you than me, I guess." She said as she noticed Akane standing down the street from them. "Hey, sis, any luck on your dojo conquest?"

Akane noticed Ranma between Kasumi and Nabiki, a feral growl coming from her lips.

"I take that as a no." Nabiki said as Kasumi took Ranma inside with her, Nabiki staying behind to watch her sister and maybe run interference as Kasumi took Ranma from the violent sister. "Daddy wanted to make sure you were properly prepared before trying anything rash."

"He's treating me like I'm still a kid." Akane said as she walked into the front lawn of the house and to the front doors.

Nabiki followed close on her heels. "Well, being the Grand Master of a school is a lot of responsibility, Akane. It means that you have to teach others and make sure you teach then correctly, not abuse your power over them."

Gorwling her frustration at Nabiki's comment, she went upstairs to her room before coming back out into the hall with her bathing supplies.

Nabiki didn't get too far from the front door when a knocking could be heard from the gate. Stepping back out to the doorway, she opened it to find Ryoga looking confused as he glanced up and down the street. "Could you help me, Miss?" He asked as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm trying to find the Tendo Dojo."

Nabiki, feeling a momentary streak of cruelty, smiled cattily at Ryoga before pointing to the sign hanging next to the gate. Ryoga seemed to blink unconsciously at the sign before actually reading it, a blush coming onto his face soon afterwards.

"Ah," definitely feeling embarrassed, Ryoga continued, "is Ranma in, by any chance?"

Nabiki motioned, offering Ryoga to come into the house as she headed back inside. She walked over to the kitchen, gesturing inside to the lost boy before walking off, leaving him to his own devices. Ryoga looked inside and watched for a moment as Ranma seemed to move comfortably around in the kitchen with Kasumi as they worked in tandem to make tonight's dinner. Ranma flowed past Kasumi to the cutting board with the vegetables provided while Kasumi prepared a few strips of meat that she began to sauté in a frying pan.

As if expecting Ranma to be finished with the vegetables, she reached over to the cutting board and added the vegetables around the meat, Ranma already pulling out the cooker for the rice.

As if sensing the audience they had acquired, Kasumi looked over to the doorway leading to the foyer. "Why hello, Ryoga. Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Ranma looked to Kasumi before looking over to Ryoga, a slight look of surprise on his face.

"Ah…hi." Ryoga said as he waved.

"You shouldn't stand there in the doorway, Ryoga." Kasumi said as she took his hand and walked him through the kitchen. "Go ahead and have a seat at the table, we'll be eating shortly."

"Er…thank you, Kasumi." Ryoga spoke lightly as he walked from the doorway to the table and took a seat, looking around the living room while he waited.

He wondered what kind of person could clean a house as good as the one he sat in. It had been a long time since he had been welcomed into a house, much less his own, and actually took a moment to look it over in any detail. The walls around the living room were paneled, but were made of wood, which said something for the people who made it. The floors tatami mats were soft, yet still as clean as the first day they were brought in and placed accordingly.

The tv he could say nothing except than it was functional. Technology wasn't something he came across in the backwoods of the world very often. The couch that sat before it looked comfortable, no signs of wear could be seen from where he sat, but it seemed to fit the living room just fine.

From upstairs came Akane, fresh from her bath. She looked to the table, noticing the lost boy and her face scowling almost instantly as she walked over and sat at the other side of the table. Smoothing the light blue sundress over her knees, she looked down at the table. Finding that his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, Ryoga could only scratch at the back of his head in embarrassment.

Nabiki came down from upstairs, notebook in hand as she turned the tv on and began writing down numbers from the stock quotes for the day. "What bring you here to our house, Ryoga?" Nabiki asked as she kept her eyes on the tv screen.

"Huh?" Ryoga spoke, looking over his shoulder to the couch. "Oh, ah, I needed to talk to Ranma about something."

Nabiki didn't say much after that, switching her target over to her little sister. "So, Akane, how did your mission go today?"

Ryoga looked curiously from the couch to Akane.

"It didn't." Akane seethed. "Most of them turned me away at the door once I told them what martial arts I practiced." Ryoga winced as Akane continued. "They're just scared of how good I am, otherwise I would have been ready to challenge Kasumi today."

Nabiki grunted. Ryoga looked confused as he glanced from the couch to Akane. "Is there something I can do to help?" He asked the softly growling girl.

"Only if you know of any martial artists who I could fight for this task my father gave me." Akane harrumphed loudly, turning her face away from Ryoga.

"Well," Ryoga looked at the couch again before looking at Akane, "I'm a martial artist, I guess."

Akane's eyes widened. Of course, it was obvious, and she hadn't seen it. Ranma was a martial artist as well, all she had to do was find a third martial artist to fight and she'd be able to challenge Kasumi for the right to teach Anything Goes.

"Stay right there." Akane got to her feet and rushed upstairs, Ryoga following her with his eyes as far as the hallway.

He looked over at the couch where Nabiki had turned her head to look at him. "I hope you're a good martial artist, Ryoga."

The sounds of running feet down the stairs and the quick running through the hall brought a yellow gi clad Akane back into the living room, her mallet held over her shoulder. "I challenge you, Ryoga, to a fight of Anything Goes martial arts." She pointed her finger at him, as if spearing him in place with it.

Ryoga stood up and started to limber up as he watched her. "What are the conditions?" Ryoga asked, cracking his neck as he worked his shoulders.

"If I win, you sign your name to a sheet saying that I beat you fairly in a battle of skill." Akane said, wanting him to accept right now to get this over with.

Ryoga glanced at Nabiki before shrugging and walked out into the yard. Akane followed him out into the yard, taking the mallet into both of her hands and waited for him to get ready. Once he stopped moving, she charged him with a battle yell, slamming the head of her mallet into his head with an mighty swing downward, as if trying to stake him into the ground.

Ryoga turned around, the head of the mallet still on his head as he looked at Akane. "Ok, anytime you're ready." He assumed an slightly open position, wanting to go easy on her.

Akane looked at the broken handle in her hands to Ryoga and to the broken mallet handle in her hands again. Ryoga waited for her to make the first attack, still not noticing the mallet head that was balanced on his head. Tossing the handle, Akane reached back and tried to punch Ryoga with all her strength behind her. Ryoga took the blow easily to his face, his head barely jerking.

They both held their poses for a bit before Akane groaned and held her swelling hand tight to her body, whimpering in pain as she wondered what he was made of. Ryoga scratched at his cheek, a sweatdrop forming on his head as he looked at the girl who was obviously in pain. He had barely felt her hit, was the fight already over?

"Ryoga, Akane, come inside and eat." Kasumi called as Ranma helped bring the food to the table.

"Yes, ma'am." Ryoga called out as he left Akane where she was still standing, her hand cradled gently against her body.

Dinner was a quiet affair, except for the stares that Ryoga was getting. Akane had to use her left hand, as her right was too swollen to use her chopsticks effectively. Ryoga sat at the table happily eating the meal that Kasumi and Ranma had thrown together, the mallet head still balanced on him. Nabiki stared disbelieving at the lost boy while Kasumi simply smiled at him. Ranma didn't even look twice.

"Oh, Ranma." Ryoga's head turned to the boy sitting between the elder two Tendo daughters. "I need to talk to you later on, is that alright?"

Ranma raised his head up and looked Ryoga in the eyes. "Yeah, sure." Ranma spoke with a slight nod. "I have to practice with Kasumi first, but if you want, I can talk to you afterwards."

"That'll be fine." Ryoga finished up the last of his meal, placing his chopsticks on the plate in front of him before smiling and tilting his head to Kasumi. "Thank you for the meal. It was very delicious." The mallet slid from his head and landed in his lap causing Ryoga to look at the roof in wonderment. When did pieces of wood fall from the sky?

"I'll be back to take care of the dishes." Kasumi said as she stood up, walking over to the hallway so she could get changed.

"Actually, Kasumi, I think I'll take care of the dishes tonight." Soun said as he finished his own meal, waiting for Nabiki and Akane finish theirs. "You go ahead and get your practice in."

Kasumi looked at her father as he took Akane with him, mentioning something about sprain and first aid kit in the kitchen. Ranma and Ryoga got up and walked to the dojo. Ranma loosened up, getting ready to take Kasumi through her practicing while Ryoga sat to the side.

"Hey, Ranma." Ryoga spoke to Ranma as Ranma flowed through a basic kata. "You went to Jusenkyo, didn't you?"

Ranma slipped, correcting himself automatically. "I know about it." Ranma spoke cautiously.

"You turn into a red headed girl, don't you?" Ryoga spoke, not in an accusatory voice. "Your father turns into a panda, yes?"

Ranma stopped and looked at Ryoga, staring at him as if unsure if he was an enemy or not.

"You're wondering how I know it's you and your dad?" Ryoga asked him, still sitting against the wall. "You know about me getting lost, so I'll just skip ahead to the important parts." Ryoga sat straighter, eyeing the door to the dojo. "I found myself by Jusenkyo one day, I didn't know it was Jusenkyo at the time, but I learned soon enough."

Ryoga made sure to watch the door while he began. "I found myself on a cliff side over a lot of pools with bamboo poles in them. I didn't know where I was, only that it was the first sign of water I had seen in a long time, and my canteen was running low. I was about to look for a way down to refill it when a girl in red hair shot up past me, nearly hitting my as she flew by.

"I was pretty shocked seeing a girl go running by me soaked to the bone in rags that were barely being held together by their threads." He shifted as he looked at the door again. "I turned around at the sound of something scrabbling behind me and leaned over the cliff to see what it was. The next thing I knew, I had been grabbed ahold of by a giant panda that was scaling a sheer cliff with its claws. It looked me in the face before tossing me over its shoulder, going after the girl."

Ranma began to have a guilty look on his face.

"I found out later from a little girl living at a shack near the pools of water that the panda had been a man and the girl had been a boy who had come looking for training." Kasumi walked into the dojo, her pink gi cinched tightly to her body and her braided hair wagging behind her as she walked.

Ryoga watched as Ranma and Kasumi worked through the basic kata Ranma had begun earlier. They flowed from one form to another, moving to a more advanced form of the beginning kata as Ranma guided her through a few extra steps. After awhile, Kasumi practiced a kata with the practice naginata that had been stored in a weapon rack near the back of the dojo. The weapon swished through the air with assured movements as Kasumi worked carefully with the weapon of her family's art.

Ranma wanted to see for himself the skill Kasumi had with a naginata and asked her to spar with him with the weapon. He had to ask her a few times and assure her that he would not fight back, merely wanting to test her skill with the weapon. Kasumi took tentative steps with the weapon, basic jabs and slashes with it, gradually moving onto something more complex as she strove to hit Ranma with it.

At first, Ranma didn't think she was going to try to seriously strike him. The jab that scratched his ear was an indication that she wasn't sure at first, but she was getting used to the idea of testing her skill. He ducked under the follow up slash to his temple and jumped as the weapon spun close to his shins. She spun the weapon in front of her in a quick circle before attacking at Ranma again, a jab rushing for his ribs making him lean backwards to avoid the shot.

Ranma took his skill up further as he started to jump from the floor to the pillars and to even the beams near the ceiling to avoid Kasumi as her weapon sought him out faster and faster. She stood in the middle of the room, her gaze locked on him as she worked her weapon with little strain, using her body to twist the weapon into complex patterns, letting it slide through her hand in lightning jabs or work her hands across the length as she brought it back in and caused the weapon side to whistle in quick arching slashes that came close to touching Ranma.

The spar ended when Ranma tried to flip over her to avoid a slash, the butt end of the naginata suddenly finding purchase in his stomach as he passed over her and he was brought to the ground hard. He had enough breath left in him to clap his hands together as the weapon side came down and stopped a foot above his face, the weapon end caught between his palms.

"I think that's enough practice, Kasumi." Ranma said as he pushed at the weapon end, Kasumi still trying to push it down into him.

Snapping out of her concentration, Kasumi let up on the weapon, then bent over and helped Ranma back to his feet. "I'm so sorry, Ranma. I don't know what came over me."

"It was very good, Kasumi." Ranma said as he rubbed his stomach. "You were pushing me pretty hard with it, now if only you'd try as hard with hand to hand." Kasumi blushed as she looked at the floor, embarrassed for what she had done. "How did you get so good? You looked very natural fighting with the naginata."

Kasumi fidgeted before speaking. "I use a broom around the house to reach the cobwebs in the corners of the rooms." She spoke lightly, dying from embarrassment. "I used the moves that I normally use with my broom to knock down cobwebs and dust with the naginata."

Ranma stood dumbfounded at this piece of knowledge. Ryoga standing by the wall had a sweat drop hanging from his head.

"Um…if we're done practicing, I'm going to use the furo first." Kasumi bowed to Ranma before putting the naginata back in the weapon rack and bowing to the dojo before heading back into the house and to hide her blushing cheeks.

Ryoga walked over to Ranma, staring at the doorway with him. "Remind me never to upset a housewife ever again." Ryoga spoke calmly. Ranma could only nod.

* * *

He awoke slowly, unsure where he was at. The sound of a steady beep was coming form a machine to his left, yet the room was dark and smelled sterile, white walls glowing dimly in the moonlight. He felt terrible, and wondered how he had gotten from where he had been. The last thing he remembered was a girls Rhythmic Gymnastics meet that had peaked his interests. Nothing said loving like little girls in leotards.

The end match was beginning and he had been interrupted by someone, someone that made him excited beyond simply watching developing girls prancing around in skimpy uniforms. There was a mention about a red headed girl, and that they were there to see him. Normally, following a boy was something he never wanted to do, but this girl was something he had liked, voluptuous like a young woman, but still young enough to be illegal to touch in that kind of way.

He had gone willingly, his hands flexing in anticipation for what was to come next. The passageway had only a few people in it, though he was hardly paying attention to that. Then the boy in front of him began glowing a very bright blue half way down the tunnel, and something about how he turned around made him nervous.

The pain came soon after the boy had turned around. Glowing like a demon of hell, the boy had beat him several times in the tunnel, throwing him bodily back and forth into the walls around them before smashing him back out into the arena. That's where his memories cut off, most likely due to him passing out.

He opened his eyes slowly, looking around the room again. He noticed that his left arm was in a cast, his legs were in slings that were suspended above his head from where he lay. The boy must have beaten him to within an inch of his life before letting him go. He was having trouble breathing and he could barely feel his right hand as he flexed it.

"Ah, good, you're awake." A female doctor walked in and took a clip board from the foot of the bed, making a notation on the paperwork.

His mouth felt dry and he swallowed before speaking. "Where am I?" he asked.

"You're in Juuban Hospital." The doctor calmly spoke, walking around the bed to eye the machine before writing a few more notes down. "You've been unconscious for a day. With the extent of your body, we were wondering if you were going to be in a coma."

His mouth was still dry, and he swallowed again before trying to speak more. "How bad am I?"

The female doctor looked down at him. "Well, your right arm is about the only thing not totally damaged in one form or another." She put the pen on the clipboard as she took a seat next to him. "Your left arm was broken in two places, one near your ball joint in the upper arm, the other down by the wrist. Your chest had three broken ribs that had to be reset before being bandaged. Your legs have stress fractures probably from being slammed several times into something hard. Other than that, it's mostly superficial."

"Superficial?" He was having trouble remembering his name, all this information coming into his head at once was making it hard to think.

"The pain medication is probably making things difficult on you right now, so I'll say this one last bit before letting you get back to sleep." The woman let her hand rake through her short cropped blue hair. "Your body was covered in scratches that I couldn't even begin to explain. How it managed to not hurt your clothing is still questionable, but we could only agree that the wounds were fresh, not something post inflicted on you before having your arm and ribs broken."

He nodded, no longer wondering why his body felt like it was crawling with ants. "How long will I be here?" he asked, something about getting back to his practice wanted him to hurry up and heal.

"It will be awhile, we want to make sure that your legs heal properly before sending you home, Mr. Ono." The doctor said as she stood and walked to the foot of the bed.

"Doctor." He spoke, as his memory flashed briefly. "I'm a doctor."

She nodded from the foot of his bed, looking at him with a little bit of kindness in her smile. "We're glad to have you with us, Doctor. I'm Dr. Mizuno, and I will be taking care of you during your stay." She bowed to him before walking for the doorway, heading out on her rounds.

* * *

"Ranma." Ryoga said as they closed the door to Ranma's bedroom. "I have to finish telling you what I started saying in the dojo."

Ranma nodded as he pulled the futons out of the closet and unrolled them, not looking at Ryoga.

"When I was tossed from the cliffs down to Jusenkyo below, I was cursed." Ranma froze and looked at Ryoga. Ryoga's face was calm, but slightly resigned. "The panda that nearly killed me by throwing me from the cliffs came back some time later and tried grilling me up to eat, only fleeing when I tried to kill it."

Ryoga sighed as he sat down. "I blamed the red headed girl and the panda for what happened to me, searching a long time for those two so I could get my revenge on them." Ryoga tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling. "I never imagined that you would have been that girl."

Ranma looked at him, an unreadable look on his face. "Do you still want to get revenge?" he asked, his voice steady.

Ryoga shook his head. "Not against you, anyways. I heard about how you got cursed." Ryoga looked over at Ranma. "I heard that there is a cure for our 'condition'." Ryoga gazed at Ranma, watching his reaction.

"That's alright." Ranma said as he took two pillows out from the closet and Ryoga's pack as well, laying it next to the doorway. "I'm better off this way."

Ryoga stared at Ranma, watching Ranma move slowly with sure movements as he made sure that every little thing was in its place before beginning to undress himself for bed.

"Don't you want to be normal again?" Ryoga asked him, trying to make Ranma see he was trying to help him.

Ranma shivered at the word normal. "I can't ever be normal again, Ryoga." He spoke softly before turning the cover back and crawling in to his futon. "This is for the best."

Ryoga watched him for a bit longer before getting up and turning the light out before heading to bed himself.

* * *

**Before anyone starts shouting anything blasphemous or griping about another crossover fic, I will say to you now that I have no intentions of crossing anything over with anything else. I have not done a crossover fic, don't think I'll try to do a crossover fic, and would rather gouge my eyes out with a spork than to attempt a sailor moon crossover that is as dark as this story is. (I've read my fair share of Ranma/Sailor Moon crossovers, some of which were very good)**

**With that out of the way, let me please point out to you the fact that Kasumi was using a frying pan as a weapon and that it was glowing. I don't know what came over me, but it seemed appropriate at the time being. Kasumi, Goddess of the Kitchen, must have her own weapon of smiting justice to inflict the Wrath of Kasumi for trying to use a training potty to hit her with. You know you'd have tried the same thing if you had one, admit the truth!**


	10. Mother Knows Best

**taps a mic, wondering if they hooked up the audio right**

**Testing, 1, 2, 3... listens to the feedback**

**Yes, it's that time once again. Updates from hell have returned! (I can say hell, right?) I will remind everyone once again that this is a dark fic, it does say hurt/comfort on it. I had humor on it not too long ago, but due to the fact that I did not introduce enough humor to the first few chapters, I removed it quickly. I am making a great effort to lighten things up and I know that canon has been thrown out the window, but I'm trying to keep things close. This chapter, however, is nowhere near that...**

**Disclaimer: I move furniture for family members and take payment in cheap alcohol. Beer is for sissies. Rumiko Takahashi is not family, therefore, I have no right to try and sell this story or even had permission to make an AU like this.**

**G.B.: I got my flame, and I deserved it. It's my only flame, but I deserved it nonetheless This is not your typical Ranma world where things are good and happy and everything works out in the end. You have been warned once again, carry mace and a tazer with you at all times while you read this.**

* * *

He had not been at home when she had gone to rescue him yesterday. They must have known that after the child's loss that she would be coming for him, and had hurried to hide him so that they could keep him for their own, wanting to corrupt him and turn him into one of them. She had even gone to that wretched school looking for him, but it had been empty. Sundays were probably not the day to go looking for him at school.

She would go today then, heading to this Furinkan High with her 'dear brother'. She wouldn't be able to take him away as she had planned on, but at least she could assure him that his fate wasn't as bad as it seemed to be. Dressing in the dark clothing of St. Hebereke, she walked to the front door, waiting patiently for her 'dear brother' to make his grand entrance.

She had only a moment to wait before Tatewaki Kuno made his appearance, his hakama and gi combination ever present on his body as he strode to the door of their house. Taking note of his sister's presence, he gripped the hilt of his boken reflexively before speaking.

"What honor befalls me that I might bask in your presence, twisted sister of mine?" Kuno asked, making sure to look for any motions toward whatever weapons she hid on her personage.

"I have business at your school this morning, dear brother." Kodachi's light voice spoke of dismissal from Kuno's rudeness as she turned her nose up at him for suggesting something else. "It would be more appropriate for us to go together than apart."

Kuno eyed his sister before nodding. "Indeed, though I must warn you that I will most likely have to deal with a pigtailed villain who has ensconced himself in the home of the fair Akane Tendo."

_"If things work out the way I have planned them, dear brother, my darling Ranma will no longer be with the riff raff ever again."_ Kodachi thought to herself as a mad cackling sound erupted from her lips.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to come to school like this?" Nabiki asked as she escorted a red headed Ranma-chan onto the school grounds.

Ranma-chan shrugged. It wasn't like she wanted to be seen in her female form around the school, but she would have been late otherwise. Also, she didn't really care if she came to school as a girl or not, since they didn't know Ranma could change in the first place.

Akane was already awaiting the Horde of Hentai that was going to mob her. Mallet in one hand and the letter from her father in the other, she had a genius plan well thought out. All she had to do was find three of the guys after the beating she was going to be handing out then go and challenge Kasumi for her Grand Master license.

As soon as she walked into the yard, the boys looked her direction. She couldn't whip her mallet out at the nearest boy just yet, she had to wait for them to attack first. Self defense laws and all that. Being kicked off the school grounds before she could get those signatures first would be a pain to deal with and make her very irritable.

For once, the Hentai Horde was going to be very helpful to her, instead of the common annoyances that they had been before.

Something about them seemed to deter her from swinging her mallet though. Maybe it was because instead of the normal tools of their sports, they were rushing her with bouquets of flowers and chocolates. She'd never been attacked with anything like this before, and it was catching her flat footed.

Even more flat footed when she realized they were running past her.

Turning with confusion firmly in place on her face, she could only goggle at the boys as they jostled each other to try and get close enough to Ranma-chan to hand her the flowers or the chocolate, confessing their love for her. Ranma-chan stood just as stunned as she was as she stared back and forth between the boys watching them fight each other to get closer to their red headed love. The fight turned into a huge brawl that quickly escalated into a riot as Ranma-chan and Nabiki left the hormonally challenged boys to their own devices.

Stopping next to Akane who had yet to stop staring at the impossible, Nabiki waved her hand in front of the shocked little sister before shrugging her shoulders and continuing to walk onward with Ranma-chan. They only made it a few steps before a rose came flying toward Ranma-chan, her hand catching it deftly and looking it over as if wondering what it was.

"Your tastes only exceed your beauty, fair lady of pigtails." Kuno's voice called from behind a tree as he stepped into view, pushing back the hair over his eyes to make him give that roguish and debonair flair to himself. "That they would so openly try to woo your affections even before I, the great Tatewake Kuno, would have a chance to speak to thee of such matters," He made a dramatic sigh as he looked off in some unknown direction, "Truly a boorish lot they are."

"Hey, come on, Kuno." One of the boys not in the melee pointed openly at the kendoist. "You do this to us all the time. Why do we have to get stuck with the average looking girls in the school?"

Mutters of pig and chauvinist made themselves apparent to anyone who would listen.

"It is because you strive for something beyond your reach that you are always cast back to the dirt that sired you." Kuno said before posing with his kendo stick raised high overhead. "Only I, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, have any chance of dating only the purest of women."

Nabiki snorted before muttering for Ranma-chan's ear only, "If only he wasn't dating his ego first, things would probably go a lot smoother for him."

Ranma-chan nodded, still eyeing the rose in her fingers before turning to Nabiki as Kuno continued to spew forth how high above the common man he was. Nabiki eyed Ranma-chan before her eyes went wide as Ranma-chan slid the rose, now thornless, into her hair. Making sure that the flower wasn't going to fall out from its perch, Ranma-chan gave Nabiki a tentative smile.

Nabiki knowing full well that Ranma-chan was a guy underneath the cursed exterior felt her face blush lightly and the temperature around her go up to match her face. She was about to crack a little smile just for Ranma-chan when the flower that was in her hair was forcibly ripped out, strands of hair joining the plant.

"This flower was not meant for the likes of you, Nabiki Tendo." Kuno's unsympathetic voice made Nabiki turn her burning eyes toward him, her hand wanting to reach up and slap the taste out of his mouth if she thought he had any taste at all. Turning to Ranma-chan with an ear to ear smile on his face, he kneeled and offered the rose up. "Only one who's beauty transcends the very God's themselves can only be worthy of such…"

Ranma-chan had grabbed his jaw with one hand, her face devoid of emotion as she took the rose offered to her from him in the other hand. Keeping the pressure on the joints in his jaw, she turned and force fed Kuno his rose, petal end first, before punting him back and into the school wall three stories high. Kuno peeled out of the wall he had been embedded in and fell head first to the ground, creating his own crater.

"Are you ok?" Ranma-chan asked Nabiki in a barely audible whisper, looking at Nabiki's hair where the flower had been.

Nabiki had to force the hate for Kuno down with some difficulty before taking Ranma-chan's hand and walking inside, making sure to plant a foot in the small of Kuno's back hard as she walked over him. "Let's get you some hot water before school starts, ok?"

* * *

She had yet to see her pigtailed God, even during the antics of her brother making a fool of himself, she didn't see Ranma all the way up until school started. Cursing her ill fortune she had returned to St. Hebereke for her own schooling, having Sasuke fashion a note up for her that would explain her absence. No point in getting into trouble over something that meant more to her than her education did. Tutors were a dime a dozen as long as you had the money, and the Kuno Estate had money to spare and then some.

She landed on the wall of the lowly Furinkan High perimeter near the gates, her balance as impeccable as the light shading of lipstick she wore. Lunch was in full swing, the kids loitering around the school building having various lunches before them. She saw her God sitting amidst two girls, one with a dirty brown ponytail, the other having her hair tied off on either side of her head and hanging across her shoulders.

She was about to jump down to Ranma when the painful bellowing of her brother echoed across the grounds. She watched and waited as her brother appeared from inside the school, shaking off bandages that had been wrapped around his body as he stormed over to a brown haired girl in a bowl cut. He shouted unintelligently into the girl's face as she shook slightly, most likely in fear for being chastised by her betters. When Kuno tried to grab hold of her dress by her neck, he was suddenly launched bodily into the wall just below her feet, his face making a deep indentation in the wall.

Looking back over at the bowl cut girl, she saw that Ranma had moved from where he had been sitting and had bodily thrown her brother from nearly three hundred feet into the concrete perimeter of the school. He looked irritated from where she could see him and also saw the face of the girl who had turned around with an angry look on her face to watch her brother's flight.

She only noticed the girl as a minor character as her mind began the Kodachi and Ranma play she had scripted out long before coming here. In her mind, she saw herself where the girl was, turning back to face the champion of her heart as he looked down at her, his hand rising to her cheek, asking her if she was alright. She would fight off the swoon that would rise up in her, shivering in delight to the fingers touching her in a way she had never been touched before leaning toward him, her lips wanting to kiss him and make them her own.

She snapped out of her dream like state, realizing that Ranma had reached with his hand and touched the bowl haired girl's cheek in the exact same way her dream had wanted him to do to her. The girl was starting to lean toward him and she saw nothing but red.

* * *

"Thanks for the help, Ranma." Nabiki managed to whisper into Ranma's ear before anyone noticed them. She was definitely going to have to do something to Kuno for this, nearly grabbing hold of her was more than what she was going to put up with.

Ranma didn't say anything, merely stood protectively overtop of Nabiki and glaring hotly at Kuno who was just beginning to slide down the wall by his nose. He did happen to take his eyes off of Kuno when a red ribbon lashed out from above, nearly hitting Nabiki if Ranma didn't grab her and jump back.

The muttering about Kuno being an idiot again and how Ranma was so nice to protect Nabiki, although wishing they had been the one protected, cut off as the ribbon nearly sliced into Nabiki. The dark leotard dressed girl with the lopsided ponytail landing where Nabiki had stood just moments ago made people wonder why the champion of the rhythmic gymnastics competition had returned to Furinkan.

"Miserable peasant girl, how dare you be so familiar with my Ranma-sama?" Kodachi hissed hatefully at Nabiki, taking her ribbon in hand and gripping at it tightly.

"Your Ranma-sama?" Nabiki spoke aloud, staring at Kodachi with open confusion. "The competition is over, why are you back at Furinkan for?"

"I'm here to rescue my Ranma-sama from you low born girls." Kodachi spoke haughtily. She received several death glares from the girls around the school yard. "The girl, Akane Tendo, swore to me that if I won, I would take my darling Ranma from her abode and have him stay with me!"

"WHAT?!?" the shout echoed from places around the school grounds, several girls emitting red flaming auras around them as they looked around for Akane.

Nabiki's eyebrow twitched. She was going to have a long talk with her sister. "I'm afraid you're mistaken." Nabiki began as she stepped away from Ranma. "He's staying at OUR house. His father brought him to our place and he has been staying there ever since." No sense in telling her about the arranged engagement, whether that was going to happen or not.

"You can't fool me, peasant woman." Kodachi snapped as she lashed her ribbon toward Nabiki, who barely dodged the attack. "You are trying to keep my darling Ranma for yourself. I won't allow it!"

As Nabiki ran past him, Ranma reached out and took hold of Kodachi around her waist before leaping out of the school grounds and off into town. Several of the girls who had not gone to search for Akane moaned in displeasure as he jumped away with the quite mad gymnast wrapped in one arm.

Kuno bellowed loudly as he stood up from where he had been thrown, a dirt streak marring his face from his brow to his chin. Looking around the schoolyard for his opponent, he placed his hands on his hips before laughing. "Plainly, the foul sorcerer Saotome has fled before I had recovered. He is in fear of my strength that he can only attack me when I am unprepared for him."

Several sweatdrops and disgusted grumbling came from many people around the even crazier kendoist.

* * *

Ranma didn't know where he was going to go just yet. He needed to get the gymnast away from Nabiki, that was for sure, but where would be a safe place to take her? He had spent a little time in the town, usually staying to the roofs unless Kasumi needed him to run into town for supplies when they ran short in the kitchen. Seeing that his path was coming a little too close to the Tendo's house, he landed in the street and ran down the road.

Kodachi was in heaven, being carried in the arms of her one and only love, she couldn't care less where they were headed. Well, maybe she could suggest something a little more private, with heavy curtains, dark violet painted walls, and a very big bed.

The sudden cold water that splashed over her face made her splutter and rub at her eyes. Spluttering indignantly after being forced out of her delicious daydream, she looked around at who had been rude enough to throw water on her. It was only then that she realized that the arm around her was definitely smaller than her Ranma's arm should have been, and that the body she was now being carried against was smaller and definitely softer.

She looked up at her impromptu taxi, the flaring red hair tied back in an unorthodox pigtail and the extra large bust that would give what could only be the girl carrying her back problems later on in her older years.

If she managed to live past today, that is.

"Harlot! Put me down this instant!" Kodachi practically shrieked in her outrage at being manhandled by a woman.

Ranma, never noticing his gender change to his female form looked down at the now struggling girl he was carrying under his arm with confusion. Stopping his run away from Furinkan, he placed Kodachi on her feet before ducking out of the way of a sudden club nearly taking his head off.

"I don't know who you are, gaijin, but I'll show you the fury of Kodachi Kuno!" She attacked Ranma's female form with a second club, making her ribbon disappear on her body as she pulled the second club out. "You will pay for taking my Ranma-sama from me!"

The club came down in a slicing arc that should have avoided his chest, but the tell tale sound of the fabric being cut open made him look down at himself. It was only then that he realized that some time during their flight, he had changed. Probably some time recent as the girl hadn't really noticed until now.

Reaching her hand up to grasp the bowling pin shaped club, Ranma suddenly pulled her hand away and stepped back as the club suddenly sprung to life with various spikes. Now realizing that the girl was intending on actually hurting her, Ranma danced away from the blows that were punching into concrete indiscriminately.

"Where is Ranma-sama?" The girl hissed as the spikes from her club punched holes neatly into the ground and walls. "What have you done with my Ranma-sama?"

Ranma leapt back as the clubs were thrown at her, impacting with a nearby telephone pole and a garbage can placed nearby. More spiked clubs appeared in her hands from somewhere and were tossed in her general direction once again, making her dodge and weave around the lethal weapons. Unsure whether this girl was trying to kill her or not, Ranma took to the rooftops, speeding away as fast as she could.

Kodachi leapt up onto the roofs and tried to give chase, but stopped as she watched the girl flee faster than what she herself could keep pace at. Her ribbon had come into her hand reflexively as she had begun her chase and now hung limply around her leg as she watched the red haired girl disappear into the distance. She could start back to the school and wait for her Ranma to reappear, but doubted that she would see him again today if the red haired hussy would have anything to do about it.

Grounding her teeth in vexation, Kodachi could do nothing but return home.

* * *

Nabiki never saw Ranma come back, and Akane didn't say anything about Ranma missing his classes, which didn't surprise her much. Kuno had tried to confront her after classes and had suggested to him quite plainly that he should go home and rethink talking to her if he didn't want the rumor of him proposing so stringently around school was all a ruse to keep the truth of his actual gay lifestyle from all of Nerima.

She couldn't actually do it seeing as how the Yakuza were making it hard to make a buck without stepping on their toes and information like that about one of the more wealthy houses of Nerima would give them an opportunity to make a well paying connection to hush her. Kuno, however, wasn't as quick witted in realizing this, nor did he deal with the worst that humanity had to offer in the back alleyways and bars. Still, it was a temporary thing, and she would have to come up with something a little more evident to use against him so that he wouldn't forget.

To say that Nabiki Tendo was having a bad day was an understatement.

Fortunately, the gymnastic psycho of St. Hebereke did not return for a repeat performance, which allowed Nabiki to get home and find out exactly who the girl was, though she had a suspicion.

Upon her arrival home, Nabiki found out that Ranma had fled back to the house after the gymnastics girl had tried to perforate Ranma with gimmicked clubs. That Ranma had made it home in one piece and was not showing any signs of bandages or new scratches must have meant that he had escaped unscathed. It did calm her a bit that the boy who turned girl by water's embrace was unharmed, his gesture earlier that morning had probably been the only thing that had made her feel that the day wasn't a total loss.

Before heading to her room after taking the numbers down for the stock closing, Nabiki realized that their father had not come home yet. Normally, if he was at the Nerima Council, he would have come home for a meal or called ahead to let them know not to wait for him. Instead, Kasumi had heard nothing from him since he left earlier that morning, only mentioning that he was going to see Mrs. Saotome at her house. It was strange, and Nabiki wondered as to what it could mean for the household.

Akane didn't get home till late when it was nearly time for bed, leaving Nabiki the upstairs and the bathroom to herself for the first time in a long time. Ranma and Kasumi's training had become a bit louder, apparently Ranma had decided to walk her through her hand to hand combat, but would actively spar with Kasumi after last night. The long soak had done her nerves some good, allowing the heat from the furo to soak out the ache that had somehow settled into her before she even realized it.

As the clock next to her bed neared midnight, Nabiki thought long and hard to get back at Kuno. The problem of getting back at Kuno is that he was too mad to realize when there was a threat against him, choosing to believe that nothing could harm him or his fantasies of being a noble samurai of a noble house. This had to be something that even Kuno could realize was something he should fear, and who had done it to him.

* * *

School the next day was a quiet affair, if you managed to ignore Kuno's ranting after Ranma pounded him into the dirt. He seemed to haunt Nabiki anywhere she went, and when it seemed as if he would invade her personal space, Ranma would arrive from out of nowhere and throw Kuno into the nearest solid object. It was getting so bad that Nabiki was very worried that Kuno had seen a pattern with trying to assault her to draw out Ranma, which would then place the pigtailed martial artist in danger.

By the end of the school day, Ranma had come close to being struck by Kuno twice, both times he'd nearly been struck around his eyes or at his nose. Ranma didn't seem to be too bothered with Kuno's near misses, yet Nabiki kept an eye out for the return of Kuno should he try to accost her once again. They returned home without further incident, though Nabiki was on edge for the rest of the night.

Taking the packet of pictures from the latest photos that Ranma had posed for, she opened it and began to go through them when one in particular caught her attention, making her gag. She couldn't believe what she was holding in her hand, it was not only going to haunt her dreams for many nights to come, it was exactly what she was looking for. How in the world had she gotten the goods on Kuno? The background in the picture was one she had never seen before.

Taking the picture with her, she headed for Ranma's room, knocking to see if he was in. She waited for a moment, hiding the picture under her arm as she tapped her foot before Ranma opened the door. She opened her mouth to speak, but lost all coherent thought as she looked at him.

Ranma looked like he had been sweating lightly, his shirt lying behind him in the floor. His chest glistened lightly with the little perspiration he had managed to accumulate from whatever he had been doing while the dark colored collar and leash marred the flawlessness of Ranma's well built upper body. The cord still swung lightly back and forth in front of Ranma as he looked down at Nabiki with concern.

Shaking her head to get her thoughts working once again, Nabiki lifted the picture in her hands up before Ranma. "Do you happen to know where this picture came from, Ranma?" She watched his face closely to see if he would say what she suspected.

Ranma took the picture from her and looked down at it in curiosity, flipping it over to see if there was anything on the back before turning it right side up. His brow crinkled in confusion before handing the picture back to Nabiki, shaking his head in a negative. She bit her lower lip as she took the picture back from Ranma, looking down at it once again in confusion as she tried to remember if she had ever taken a picture like this of Kuno. Not that she had ever wanted to see Kuno like this, but this was too good for her cause to be anything but divine justice.

"Are you ok?" Ranma asked quietly, his voice lilting to her as his eyes took on a concerned edge.

Nabiki would almost swear she could smell Ranma from where she was standing. Well toned body with a face a girl would swoon over, let alone the concern in his eyes while the sweat trickled down a body that could turn a dead woman on. His hand took hold of her shoulder and gave her a gentle shake, trying to see if she was asleep with her eyes open.

"I'm fine…" Nabiki said wistfully as she turned around and walked back into her room in a daze, only hitting the doorframe once before closing the door behind her.

Ranma tilted his head to one side after watching Nabiki disappear back into her room, confusion etched on his face as he scratched at his pigtail.

* * *

Ryoga had been walking for awhile, wondering if all the streets in this town were the same. The road side markets were all over the place, the kids running in the street were playing the same games of hopscotch, even the same woman at the end of the street who was using her ladle to damp down the street in front of her house to keep the dust down.

He was only beginning to suspect that he had gotten lost on one street for a few days now when Akane Tendo happened by him, a black eye evident and steam pouring from her ears. "Akane?" Ryoga called out to her, getting her hate filled attention as she stared a hole through him. "Are you ok?" he managed to ask, fighting hard to swallow as she brought up a feeling of imminent death in him.

She turned and began to walk away from him, moving with heavy steps as she nearly plowed a path through people.

Ryoga turned and followed after her, trying to keep close enough to not get lost. She allowed him to follow for a little while longer before turning on him and nearly yelling in his face. "What the hell do you want?"

Raising his hands palms toward her in front of himself to stave off any attack she would throw at him, he pointed to a vendor he had walked by once again who was selling food. "I simply wanted to ask you what had happened over a meal. You look like you need someone to listen to you."

She eyed the small food stand that the boy had pointed out then eyed him suspiciously as if he had an ulterior motive to ask her over to the food stall. Walking over and taking the farthest seat he could, he waited and watched as Akane decided to have a seat as well, but sat at the furthest seat away from him as she could.

"Are you two together?" the young boy behind the grill asked, looking from Ryoga to the girl at the far side.

"I'm paying for her meal." Ryoga said, giving the cook a totally different answer to the question asked, allowing Akane to simply snort instead of tear the cook's head from his shoulders.

"What'll it be then?" The cook said as he reached under the grill and pulled out two spatulas.

"Udon and an egg." Akane muttered quickly, wanting to get this meal over with so she could get back to her task.

"Do you make anything with wild boar in it?" Ryoga asked, getting a strange look from the boy behind the grill. "Um…I'll have cheese, shrimp, and nori."

Shaking his head at the absurd first request, the young boy got to work preparing the batter for the two meals.

Ryoga wanting to get Akane to say something, scratched at his head before speaking. "So, uh…" Ryoga had a bad feeling, but couldn't stop the words coming out of his mouth, "were you able to defeat anyone?"

The battle aura that snapped up around Akane scorched the batter that had been placed in front of her.

Ryoga sweatdropped as he tried to think of some way to ask her without offending her. "So, ah, more schools are turning you away at the door?"

"I got in at one." Akane said, or spat in her case. The chef behind the grill turned slightly to let the spittle go whizzing by him. "Stupid Aikido student must have cheated."

Ryoga winced. Aikido could be a problem, even for his own style of combat. Once he figured out that it was joint locks and throws, he was able to prevent them from tossing him. Later, once he had developed enough strength, he could prevent them from even lifting him from his feet even when they tried using their bodies to toss him.

"Well, at least they took you serious enough to fight them." Ryoga said, laughing lightly with a smile as he tried to lighten the mood. "So they beat you, so what? At least you can always go back and challenge them again."

"Mommy, mommy!" A seven year old girl called as they walked by Ryoga and Akane, pointing to the food stand. "That's the girl I beat today at class!"

"It's not polite to point, dear." Her mother chided as she continued to walk past the stand, not even looking at Akane or Ryoga as she walked hand in hand with her child.

The chef stared incredulously at the mother and daughter as they walked onward while Akane and Ryoga's head sprouted sweat drops. Ryoga maintained the happy smile on his face, though he had to be frozen since the sweat drop seemed to hang perilously from his head. Akane simply refused to look, if she didn't acknowledge it, it wasn't real.

"That's just fricken pathetic." The chef muttered, shaking his head back and forth as his waist long brown hair swished behind him.

Akane not able to take that insult after having her pride beaten by a seven year old stood up, slapping her palms down in front of herself. "I challenge you to an Anything Goes match!"

Staring at the irate girl with a look that shouted 'Are you stupid?', he used the small spatula's in his hands and flicked the still hardening batter from the grill into the girl's face. She attempted to lift her hands to pull the sticky batter from off her face, only to feel the hot grill sticking to her palms, making her scream in pain and anger.

The scream was cut short as a giant spatula was pulled from under the grill and slammed downward into the head of Akane, dislodging her hands with force and making her see stars while the batter stayed stuck to her face.

"That'll be three thousand yen." The man asked with barely held contempt as he held a hand out to Ryoga.

* * *

School started out worse than yesterday, Kuno immediately going for Nabiki to make Ranma fight him. Although the fight had been short, it still made Nabiki uneasy that Ranma had to constantly defend her from Kuno. During classes, Kuno was absent while recovering from the pummeling Ranma had given him before classes. Lunch played out quite differently when Nabiki didn't go down to the school yard.

Waiting patiently on the roof of the school, Nabiki counted down on her fingers until Kuno arrived as her hand held up a single finger left. He was getting way too predictable.

"Harridan, summon forth your protector so that I might do battle with him!" Kuno shouted as he barreled from the stairwell to Nabiki, his boken held high.

"I'd think long and hard about striking me, Kuno, if you know what's good for you." Nabiki said, not raising her hand or her voice as she watched Kuno charging at her.

Noticing that Nabiki had said something, and her pigtailed protector had not shown himself yet, he hesitated as he stopped in front of her, boken still held high. Nabiki's hand had moved viper quick and held something up before his eyes that drew his attention, making him take the picture in one hand as he peered at it.

Recognition sprang across his face before outrage took its place. "What kind of foul treachery is this?!" Kuno shouted as he gazed in disbelief at the picture in his hand.

"It's exactly what you think it is." Nabiki said as she leaned up against the fence that kept the kids from falling off the roof. "Do you know what would happen to you if copies of that picture found their way into the foot lockers of every girl in the school?"

Panic seemed to flit across Kuno's face before a stoic calm took hold and he stood straight, looking down at Nabiki with weighing eyes. "And what, pray tell, would you wish of me? Money?" Kuno scoffed at her, knowing that currency was the voice that reached the mercenary's heart. "I have vast wealth. Ask your pittance so that I might return to my holy duty."

"What I want from you cannot be bought, only bargained for." Nabiki said as she sneered at Kuno. "I will swear not to use that picture against you if you do not involve me in your fights with Ranma." Kuno looked at her doubtfully. "I know that I could ask you to stop fighting him altogether, that picture is incriminating. I also know that trying to get you to stop will only make us both go mad, so I am asking you to stop drawing me into your fights."

This was definitely not the best deal she had ever made, but it was the most honest. If Ranma got hurt while defending her when Kuno tried to come at her to get Ranma to come for him, she'd feel guilty for it. It would ultimately be Kuno's fault for starting the fight, but Ranma would be hurt none the less. Not something she wanted hanging over herself.

"What if I tried to fight the vile Saotome near you?" Kuno asked, pocketing the picture in his gi in a way he thought was subtle.

"I would suggest that I was not in the line of fire, if I were you." Nabiki said, making another picture appear in her hand. "It would be bad for your honorable reputation."

Nabiki walked past him and through the doorway that led to the stairwell beyond, leaving Kuno to his thoughts and ill conceived decisions.

* * *

Soun sat at the dinner table, the food in front of him not there. Thoughts played themselves out over and over in his head as he wondered what he was going to do about Ranma. After talking with his mother, he had been left with the task that he was ill prepared to go through with, yet he had made an honorable pledge, and Kami forgive him for ever making it in the first place.

He watched as both Kasumi and Nabiki interacted with Ranma. Kasumi smiled and talked to him lightly, encouraging him to open up and share his thoughts with the others around the house. Nabiki, for a change, gave him silent support while running interference with Akane, whose temper had become the only emotion she ever had anymore. Ranma, for his part, apologized often for what he thought were slights to the girls that sat around him, unable to look anyone in the eye unless they called for his attention by name.

Akane had acquired a black eye some time yesterday, and would only say that she was still trying to gather the names before she could challenge Kasumi. He suspected that she had been beaten and badly by whoever had fought her, letting her temper get the best of her before a sensei had to stop the fight prematurely. He hoped that she would grow out of it soon, he didn't know how else to punish her anymore.

"Girls, I have an announcement to make." Soun said, coming to the decision that this should be said sooner than later. All eating and talking came to a stop at the table, the girls turning to look their father in the face while Ranma remained looking downward at the table. "As you know, I went to have a talk with Mrs. Saotome."

The girls nodded at this revelation, knowing full well the day that their father had missed out on Kasumi's cooking.

"Mrs. Saotome convinced me to something that I agreed to that involves everyone sitting at this table." Soun could feel a migraine forming behind his eyes, and he refused to pinch at the bridge of his nose until he finished speaking. "Although she doesn't approve of how her husband raised her child, she believes that Ranma should still be engaged to one of you."

He raised his hand to forestall Akane's outburst, giving her a meaningful glare to sit back down and let him finish. "I insisted that her child would probably agree to it given the abuse he lived through, but that my daughters may not be willing to be with Ranma." Soun knew that Kasumi and Nabiki would say yes, and Akane would say no, but his daughters were still his daughters. "I got her to finally allow an open ended engagement. At any point that any of you do not wish to be with Ranma, you may end the engagement as you wish."

Kasumi took Ranma's hand in hers, smiling lightly at her father while patting Ranma's hand with her other. Nabiki also put her hand in Ranma's though her face didn't show the desire she was feeling at that moment.

"Mrs. Saotome has a very…interesting idea about her son and making him into a manly man." Soun continued, needing a drink badly. "If and when she finds someone to give her son the therapy he most likely is going to need, she would like to see her son married and with kids." Soun watched Kasumi's face blush lightly while Nabiki quirk her eyebrow at her father, wondering just what that meant.

_"How do I tell them that she would like to see lots of grand kids by many different women?"_ Soun sweat dropped, keeping his face as flat as possible.

"Father," Kasumi spoke up, backing away from the table a little bit before kneeling properly to him, "I, as the eldest daughter, accept the engagement to Ranma."

Soun nodded. "I expected as much, but I did say that it is an open ended engagement, Kasumi. Please, remember that."

"Yeah sis," Nabiki said as she stretched dramatically, showing off her bust, "I may wanna take a crack at being Ranma's girl as well."

"I'm sure that you'd try, Nabiki." Kasumi said with a sweet voice, a hand covering her mouth as she hid a smile.

Nabiki narrowed her eyes at her elder sister. "You don't think I could be a good girlfriend to Ranma?"

Kasumi shook her head lightly to her sister. "It's not a matter of being a good girlfriend, Nabiki. It's a matter of comforting and supporting those that you care about."

Nabiki grinned slyly at Kasumi as she slid up against Ranma, pressing herself into his side. "Good thing I'm with him for most of the day then. I'll be able to help him out anytime he needs me."

Both Soun and Akane watched as Kasumi and Nabiki threw down their 'gauntlets' to each other, a red, glowing frying pan mysteriously appearing in Kasumi's hand while a yellow haze sprung up around Nabiki.

"This is all your fault." Akane spoke firmly, making sure to catch Ranma's eyes before he looked away from her.

* * *

Ranma sat on the roof of the house as he stared up at the stars. About the only thing that never had an ulterior motive for him were his friends, the evening sky. It had been peaceful being here in the Tendo household, if you could deal with the kendo weirdo and the Chinese amazons that followed him across the ocean.

He wondered.

Was his life really that bad? Granted, his father had nearly ended up killing him and sold him to every piece of trash and pervert there was to feed them, sometimes just himself, but was it really all that bad? He could have done without the near death experiences and the Neko-Ken training, but they had made him tough to kill off and a good fighter as well.

For all his screw ups, his father really had done his best. A lot of people would say otherwise, but it couldn't be as bad as what they said he was. I mean, he did live through it all, and his father had protected him or left him with people that could train him and take care of him. That shows that he had some place in him that cared for his offspring.

Now his mother wanted him to marry, just like his father wanted him to be wed to the girls in the house. If that was truly what she wanted, then he would do what he could to please her.

Kasumi was someone he could relate to, having put herself through a pain that she never shared with anyone, not even her own family. She was becoming a martial artist day by day, though she tired herself out nearly as often as she practiced. She had treated him better than anyone he had ever met, and she asked for nothing in return, though he got the feeling that she was lonelier than he had seen so far.

Nabiki was a person he was coming to know, and someone that epitomized what his father had literally beat into him, protect the weak from those who would harm them. She fought in a way that Ranma was unaccustomed to, using ones mind instead of their art. She made money and helped keep the house financially floating, finding ways for money to be made in situations that seemed impossible for a buck to be scrounged up.

Both of them were women that he would do anything for, since they had done so much for him already, yet he was unworthy of either of them, a broken possession being passed onto them. It was something that he would never get used to, especially with all those girls at that place called school that kept talking to him and blushing and even holding his hand or his arm when no one else was around.

It was strange for him to have so much contact with others all at once, especially with the opposite sex. He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he continued to stare up into the sky above. He wondered what tomorrow was going to be like?

* * *

Nabiki sat at her desk, looking at the one thing there that was out of place. She fingered it, running the tip over its softness and roughness once again as she simply stared at it. Picking it up, she inhaled its scent, wondering when he had left it on her desk.

She spun the rose between her fingers, its soft red petals twirling in the dim light of the desk lamp, the stem devoid of the common thorns that would normally adorn it. When was the last time someone other than her sisters had done anything for her that didn't involve a bribe or a payment?

She could honestly say never.

She had to sacrifice relationships for money, personal and professional. Having to do what one has to for the betterment of the household doesn't leave a girl with a whole lot of spare time. Besides, no one tends to take anyone seriously until you blackmail someone twice your age for double the money you were asking for.

Still, she had wanted someone to be with her not because they wanted something from her, but because they wanted to be with her. She wasn't sure what to make of Ranma, afraid that he would be a tool instead of a person. That he had shown her to Kasumi when her elder sister had read that idiotic training manual showed that he could act on his own when he felt it was necessary.

Then he went out and nearly gotten killed for her.

No one had ever nearly sacrificed themselves for her, and she couldn't say that it had been for the family in general but for herself specifically. She had been the one to get the loan from the Yakuza, the one who had endangered her family with her dealings. She had been the one who could do nothing but stand to the side as another got hurt to the point of nearly dying.

He had even gone much further than that, taking pictures of his female side and sneaking them into her normal batch of 'earnings' at the school. Asking him for those pictures had been a goldmine to her, keeping food and electricity in the house while allowing her some leeway in not having to be her mercenary self for a change. Sure, she still dealt with the occasional bets and collected on losses, but she didn't actively track people down to get wagers anymore.

When Kuno had come at her for having the rose in her hair that he had thrown at Ranma's female side, Ranma had stomped him flat, repeatedly. Just like a knight in shining armor would do for the princess they were meant to protect. She had no illusions that she was princess material, that was a dream long since dead and buried, but at that point in time, she didn't care in the slightest.

"Ranma Saotome." Nabiki spoke to herself as she placed the flower back onto her desk, moving over to the bed as she began to undress for the night. "Wait till you see the real me."

* * *

Kasumi brushed her hair out slowly, humming lightly to herself. Her mood couldn't be any better than what it was right then and there. The engagement that had been sprung on them last minute when Genma Saotome had first arrived with his son was back on. She felt a tremor run through her as she removed the knots from her hair, thinking back to those first days of him arriving.

He was so innocent, and so hurt, it was hard for her not to care for him. She had always been the mother for the household since their mother died of illness, and Ranma practically begged for someone to care for him. What first started out as a stray that had been left to them to take care of turned into something special when he went after Tofu.

She had lived with that shame for so long, she was sure that it would have gotten out that she was a ruined woman and no one would want to marry her. Living with that kind of guilt was tearing her hopes up inside of her day by day, until the morning she heard that Tofu's clinic had been razed to the ground in utter silence and stealth.

She had suspected Ranma to have done something to it once she had found out that he had been sent to give her the money to pay Tofu, when instead she had already made her 'payment' to the good doctor. A piece of her cried out in joy that she would never have to step into that building and see the things that had been done to her there, while a second allowed a bit of her shame to be buried and gone.

Then the gymnastics meet came. Although Ranma had gotten up with the excuse of heading to the restrooms, the sudden interruption of Tofu punching outward from the concrete overhang of the tunnel and into the match in progress made her even more happier. He had hurt Tofu, stopping the man from ever touching her any time soon. Word had spread from mouth to mouth of a pigtailed boy who had beaten Tofu to within an inch of his life, breaking his arm, ribs and cracking his legs badly.

He deserved much worse, but it was a start.

Kasumi placed the brush down onto the tabletop as she looked into the sizable mirror on it. She wondered if that made her a bad woman, more so than selling herself as she did. True, Tofu had taken advantage of her when she was very young, too young to be touched the way she had been, but it had helped her family out. Was it right of her to wish vengeance on a man who…

She shook her head. There are some things that should never be done to children, no matter who they are or how old they are. He got everything he deserved, but he should get more.

She wanted to understand Ranma when he first came, being taught by him and watching how he reacted to her. It was obvious that he had little experience with women who treated him nicely, but that explanation expanded to anyone that treated him nicely. Then there was the collar and leash attached to him all the time.

She would do more for him, show him that he was a person and not just an object. She would shower so much love on him that he would want for nothing, if she could manage it. It was the least she could do for him after being set free.

* * *

Morning classes had begun, Ranma staring attentively at the front of the class while Akane would occasionally glare at him, making sure the pervert didn't get out of control.

A knock on the door interrupted the teacher and he walked over to the door, placing his book down on his desk before pulling the sliding door open and talking to someone on the other side. Turning around, he left the door open and walked to the center of the chalkboard behind him.

"Class, I have news for you." The teachers started off, smiling to the people assembled before him. "It would appear that we're getting a new student who has just transferred in."

Motioning with his hand at the door, a young man with long brown hair walked in. The blue upper gi had a bandolier of strapped spatulas crossed from right shoulder to left hip whereas a giant spatula was strapped to the boy's back. Black pants that might as well have been painted on to thin legs moved fluidly as the boy came to a stop next to the teacher.

"I'm Ukyo Kuonji." The boy bowed to the assembled group demurely, as if unsure whether to bow fully, or simply tilt his body slightly. "I'm sixteen years old and spoken for. My life's work is Okonomiyaki. My goal in life is to hunt down and kill my betrothed, Ranma Saotome."

Eyes in the classroom turned from the happily smiling person next to the teacher as they looked at Ranma and back to this boy named Ukyo.

Standing back up to his full height, Ukyo gave them all a beaming smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you all!"


	11. Everyone is PMS'ing

**Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the fanfiction's, I have returned to you once again to give you another Akane Bashing Chapter. (ducks the rotten fruit and veggies) This is not your usual Akane Bashing session, however, as I have begun to bring out what kind of neuroses are actually going on in her head. Left it with a cliffy last time I posted, so I think I fixed that problem so no road runners trick us super geniuses off those nasty cliffy's.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing written herein has been approved by the powers that be to use any and all material not owned by the author of this fanfiction. No copyright infringement has occured as this is not to be taken seriously, and that no money has been made, or attempted to be made from this story. (Who'd pay to read this crap anyways)**

* * *

Silence reigned.

Ranma sat stock still in his seat, showing not a bit of concern that the new student had openly come out and threatened his life. Akane could only gape at the new student, openly claiming that he wanted the life of the boy who had ruined his life, then looked over at Ranma, wondering if there was some way she could get a piece of him at the same time as the long haired brunette.

The teacher smiled and nodded sagely, as if death threats were expected from new students that arrived to Furinkan High.

The new student continued to smile, wondering why everyone was looking at him so strangely, though not very concerned about it. He had noticed the girl that had challenged him not too long ago at his roadside stand looking at him, then glaring hotly over at a boy with a gothic looking strap around his neck.

As he looked at the boy, something in him whispered to him, as if the person should be someone he should remember. He shrugged it off, must have been some form of Déjà vu that he brought up in her.

"Now that introductions are out of the way, let me see about you getting a seat." The teacher spoke kindly as he walked back to his desk, pulling out the seating chart for the room. He muttered lightly before humming to himself as he looked up at the room. "I think we'll place you next to Ms. Tendo. Ms. Tendo, would you please raise your hand?"

Akane brought her attention forward and raised her hand as the teacher asked of her.

"If you'll take your seat to Ms. Tendo's right, we'll continue with class." The teacher said, patting the new student on the shoulder. "You may ask Ms. Tendo for any help that you'll need as we continue. I'm sure she'll be more than helpful."

Walking down the isle between the chairs, Ukyo took his seat next to Akane, giving her a bread winning smile. "Nice to meet you, sugar. Please forgive me for being such a bother. I promise to pay you back for this."

Akane's skin crawled at the boy being so nice to her, but thought about one way the boy could help her out. Taking out a creased piece of paper, she handed it to Ukyo. "Sign that, and you're on your way to paying me back." Akane said, her smirk slightly dark.

* * *

Nabiki had heard through her contacts at the beginning of class. Ukyo Kuonji had mentioned looking for Ranma and killing him.

This wouldn't have been so bad if Ranma wasn't in his classroom with him. It was made worse when she had heard that Ukyo had been placed next to Akane. She could just imagine what her little sister would have been going through, a guy walking in and making a claim that he was looking for Ranma Saotome so that he could kill him. Akane made it evident that she hated the pigtailed boy from day one, and having someone else finish the job for her would make her day, even if it was a guy who did it.

As soon as lunch came around, Nabiki got up and bolted for the grounds, heading for Ranma's usual spot. A few of her workers who took the bets for the day tried to stop her and announce their takes, but she passed them by, worrying for Ranma's welfare.

She didn't have anything to worry about, it appeared.

Ranma sat peacefully between Yuka and Sayuri eating lunch as if nothing had been said. Nabiki looked around for her sister, seeing her sitting at the side of the new student from her class as they discussed something. The large spatula over his shoulder was easy to find, being that it shone as if recently polished. Not wanting to wait to see if the new boy was going to try something here at school, Nabiki headed over to her sister and him.

"I mean, he won't fight me seriously, and I was prevented from using the family style when I lost to him." Akane said as she talked to the new boy, Ukyo nodding sagely. "Ever since then, I've been pretty much told not to touch the pervert." She was eating from her bento while Ukyo was eating a few boxes of what looked like okonomiyaki.

"Is that so?" Ukyo said as he placed a piece of okonomiyaki in his mouth, chopsticks held to his lips as if he was thinking about something. "What's with the collar on his throat?" he mused aloud.

"Who knows?" Akane muttered as she ate more rice. "It's kinda creepy. I've never seen him take it off."

"I see you have a new friend." Nabiki spoke, getting both Ukyo and Akane's attention.

"Ukyo, I'd like for you to meet my elder sister, Nabiki." Akane said, motioning her hand to the brunette standing above them.

Standing up, Ukyo offered his hand to Nabiki. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Tendo."

Nabiki eyed the hand for a moment before taking it, wondering what was with the western custom. "I heard a rumor that you were looking to kill Ranma Saotome." Nabiki spoke evenly, watching Ukyo's face for any deceit.

"That's right." Ukyo spoke happily, almost proud to be quoted as such.

"May I ask why you're looking to off Saotome?" Nabiki asked, crossing her arms before her as she studied him in detail. Something about him wasn't fitting right.

"What's the matter, Nabiki?" Akane poked fun at her sister. "Are you concerned about your fiancé?"

Nabiki nearly spoke to curb Akane's tongue, but was held to silence when she saw everything change about Ukyo. His whole body went rigid and he seemed to stand straighter. Even his hand reflexively jerked toward the spatula over his shoulder as his eyes narrowed

"He's your fiancé?" Ukyo spoke cautiously, eyeing Ranma for the first time since arriving.

"That's not your concern." Nabiki spoke quickly, cutting off her sister before she said something else that might set Ukyo off further.

"It's going to be common knowledge soon enough, Nabiki." Akane said as she pointed her chopsticks at Nabiki. "Once he's married to you, his father will come back and probably rob us all blind."

"Who is his father, anyways?" Ukyo's hand was flexing now, and his eyes had narrowed to slits.

Nabiki tried to cut off her sister's comment but was unable to. "Genma Saotome." Akane spoke idly, going back into her bento as she ate, not noticing that Ukyo had wrenched his huge spatula from his back and jumped for Ranma.

"Ranma Saotome, Prepare to Die!" Ukyo shouted as he jumped to the attack.

* * *

He was used to the hands by now. Yuka and Sayuri meant well, he supposed, but their hands knew no limits. He had to place his bento firmly in his lap and keep it there to prevent them from reaching for his unmentionables once again. That had led them to a lot of apologizing while the other tried to take a feel for themselves.

Since he had turned fourteen, Ranma had been touched often there, usually without clothes. The people his father had sold him off to had weird tastes, and only that one pervert that had tried to violate him had ever done anything more than that. The women were worse, though not by much.

It was the kimono clad woman that had nearly done him in. The whip she had produced from underneath her obi had cut into his back, the high heels she had put on pushed him down onto his hands and knees. She had licked at the blood she had drawn from his back as if it was precious liquor, and he shivered at the way she purred when he moaned in pain, or winced when she inflicted a special kind of hurt on him.

"Ranma?" Sayuri's voice brought him back to reality as he looked at her eyes in a daze. "Are you feeling ok? You seemed to have dozed off for a moment." She had one hand on his shoulder while the other one was trying to get underneath to his backside again.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Yuka asked, also placing one hand to his other shoulder while her other hand slipped behind him "Did Akane do something to you?"

Nabiki had said that this was a form of attraction that women would show toward men if they liked them. Physical touching and polite conversation that wasn't yelling and beatings, it was still hard for him to believe normal people wouldn't hit him.

"I'm ok." Ranma spoke softly, smiling to both girls as he shifted for them, allowing them access to his rock hard backside. He even leaned forward for them so that they would be able to feel as much as they wanted. "Thank you for being concerned about me."

Yuka and Sayuri both smiled at him, though their eyes were saying something other than what the smile on their faces were expressing. If this was what he needed to do to make friends, who was he to deny them their fun?

Getting a long feel from Ranma's backside, they removed their hand only to lean up against him from either side, pressing their bodies against him. They both sighed in contentment as they felt Ranma's body underneath their backs, his arms were corded muscled made of steel and his chest was a slab of chiseled marble. If this was what a man was supposed to feel like, the boys at Furinkan were going to be very upset. They had felt what perfection feels like, and would settle for nothing else.

Nabiki came out of the school and Ranma followed her with his eyes as she walked from the building over toward Akane and her new friend. They looked to be having a conversation and the new person stood up to shake Nabiki's hand. He tried to settle back, not realizing he had tensed up until both Yuka and Sayuri had both sighed in stereo. Keeping his bento firmly in his lap, he reached around both of the girls and placed his hands around them, only to have his hands moved the moment they touched to the girl's legs.

He didn't understand why they wanted him to hold them but not hold them. If you held someone, you wrapped your arm around them and placed your hand against their back or side. They wouldn't explain to him why they liked his hand lower than where you were supposed to hold someone, but they would blush the few times he asked. He guessed he was supposed to know the answer, or figure it out on his own.

"Ranma Saotome, Prepare to Die!" shouted the new student, bringing Ranma's eyes to the air as he locked on to Ukyo.

Reacting instinctively, Ranma reached and pulled Yuka and Sayuri away form him, rolling them as he used his feet and legs to catch the huge spatula between them. Pushing off to force Ukyo away from him, Ranma jumped to his feet and took a defensive stance, wondering why the new student had mistaken him for the Ranma Saotome he was looking for.

"You jackass." He snarled as he lashed out with his spatula, using it as if it were a very weird design of a naginata. "You were planning on breaking someone else's life up with that bastard of a father, weren't you?" Ranma parried it with a slap of his hand while Ukyo continued to rant. "What were you going to do? Steal their yattai as well and run off into the mountains to feed your guild of thieves?"

Ranma didn't say anything, not understanding what the boy was going on about. He parried more slashes that came at him, deflecting them from him with quick slaps to the flat of the weapon to keep it from hitting him.

"Got nothing to say for yourself?" Ukyo spat as he increased the attacks, stepping in to allow a shorter grip on the spatula. He fired off a few spatula's from the bandoleer on his chest as he snapped the larger one forward with a flick of his wrist.

Ranma's hand snaked out through the air and deftly caught the thrown spatula's before flicking downward and batting the end of the larger weapon into the dirt before him. Standing on the end so that he couldn't pull it free immediately, Ranma asked, "Do I know you?"

The sound of the earth splitting open from the massive impact of a face meeting terra firma echoed across the grounds, a small dust cloud puffing up from where Ukyo had decided to test with his face whether Newton's Law was still in effect. Apparently, it was.

"Are you kidding me?!?" Ukyo shouted as he got to his feet, a vein popping out on his head. "You're telling me you don't know who the hell I am?"

Ranma stared at Ukyo for a long time, Yuka and Sayuri standing nearby to give Ranma encouraging support and to stare at the two boys who looked really good. He looked Ukyo up and down carefully, examining his clothing and the weapon in his hand in great detail. Ranma's brow crinkled as he tried to place where he might have seen someone dressed the way the boy was.

"You really did forget me, didn't you, you jackass?" Ukyo's weapon snapped up as he turned his body toward Ranma to point one shoulder into him. He lined his weapon along his body, aiming for the middle of Ranma. "I guess robbing me of my future wasn't the only thing you were after, was it!"

Ukyo thrust with all his strength behind it, aiming on cleaving through Ranma's body with the edge of the spatula. Ranma reached out in front of himself and caught the weapon with the flat of his palm, gripping the edge with his hand as he forced the weapon to stop. Struggling as hard he Ukyo could, he was unable to pull it free from Ranma's one hand.

"Ranma, fight Ukyo fairly." Akane growled, her hand reaching over her shoulder for her mallet that was fading in and out of sight with her slowly rising anger.

"I don't think he could fight any more fairly than that, Akane." Nabiki said as she stood behind her sister, coming to a stop behind Akane, though to the side of her instead of directly behind her.

Ranma tilted his head, continuing to try and figure out why Ukyo thought that he was the one that he was looking for.

"Where the hell is your father, you jackass?" Ukyo growled out as Ranma continued to think if he knew Ukyo from someplace.

"He abandoned Ranma on us after we found out what he did to his son." Nabiki explained, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared firmly at Ukyo. Yuka and Sayuri both looked at Ranma with concerned eyes as Nabiki continued. "He's had a … rough life."

"I'm the one who's had it rough, Lady." Ukyo wrenched her weapon back, Ranma's hand releasing it.

"Then may I suggest a meeting at our place to explain a few things to you?" Nabiki offered, Yuka and Sayuri already nodding as they smiled at Ranma.

"Only if you promise to not interfere with my decision afterwards." Ukyo looked hotly at Nabiki, daring her to say no.

"I think that when you hear what happened to him, you'll decide not to go after him." Nabiki said before turning away, heading off to make some money for the family.

Ukyo continued to give Ranma a dirty look before turning away and walking back to where he was seated at. Akane sneered at the cowardice of Ranma, preventing the fight from continuing before Ukyo could have beaten him for all the suffering she'd gone through. Ranma sat down at the tree as Akane turned away, only giving her 'friends' a look before heading back to Ukyo.

"What was Nabiki talking about, Ranma?" Yuka asked as Sayuri placed his hand in hers.

Ranma didn't answer, his mind still off and away, trying to remember who Ukyo could be, and why he was so upset at him.

* * *

Cologne ran her restaurant. The Nekohanten had just opened without its waitress, having been sent back to China for training. Mousse went back with her, wanting nothing else to do with Japan if his love interest wasn't staying. In all honesty, Cologne didn't want to deal with the myopic idiot. A few of the local girls from the local high school had taken part time jobs, but she was burning through them quickly. With as fast as she was serving the bowls and plates with food, the girls just couldn't keep up with her pace. Maybe she would send a message back to the amazon village for some of the younger students to help her out until Shampoo could return. She had been gone for only a week before the diner had opened to the public, and already Cologne was wishing she had been more in control of her desires.

The letter that she had received from the other elders of the amazons had been bad news. Apparently, someone had thought it was an idea to retrain Shampoo from the beginning, starting with balance training, but not the standard balance training with the six inch pegs planted into the ground. They had taken Shampoo into the training grounds of Jusenkyo and begun her training on the bamboo poles above the cursed springs.

"This does not bode well for my great granddaughter." Cologne muttered to herself as she went over the letter mentally once again.

She was ladling an order of soup for one of her customers when the sound of flapping came from the small yard next to the kitchen. The sounds of a duck quacking loudly and pecking its beak against the kitchen door had Cologne over to the door and opening it as soon as she handed the bowl over to one of her waitresses.

At the foot of her staff she was perched on was a duck with a strange feather arrangement on its head wearing glasses. This wouldn't have been too strange if the duck didn't walk itself into the kitchen, flapped up to a countertop and produced a letter from under a wing.

Pogoing over to the duck, she took the letter as she eyed the fowl before reading the sheet. Her eyebrows rose slowly until she had finished reading before crumpling the paper in her hand and tossing it into a nearby bin.

"So, you tried to save Shampoo from falling into a cursed spring and jumped into the wrong one." Cologne eyed the duck as it nodded. She could well imagine the myopic idiot trying to do something like that, probably had his glasses on his head again and was trying to watch her with his 'deep eyed stare' when Shampoo had fallen in. "And where is Shampoo?"

The duck began quacking madly as it danced back and forth on its stumpy legs, making a scene. Cologne bopped the duck on the head quickly, shutting it up. "Are you an idiot, or simply slow?" Cologne said before dropping the dazed duck to the ground. Taking the ladle full of soup, she splashed the duck, turning it into Mousse.

"That's hot, you dried up old mummy!" Mousse said, instantly shouting in Cologne's face as he felt his skin prickling from phantom pain. The two blows he received to his head sent him to the ground hard.

"First of all, face me when you're being derogatory." Cologne sighed, feeling a migraine coming on. "Second, who's an old mummy?"

"We don't have time for this!" Mousse was on his feet once again, two lumps rising from under his hair. "Shampoo has gone looking for that womanizer, Saotome!"

"Was she in her human form or her cursed form before going searching for him?" Cologne was going to have to put the sign up on the door and lose out on the money she would make to keep this place running, dipping into her own pockets and the stash of jewelry she kept on herself at all times.

"Her cursed form." Mousse said as he turned around and ran face first into the closed door, making him grab his hurting nose from the collision.

"And what is her cursed form?" Colonge asked as she directed the waitresses to put the sign up and finish with the rest of the customers before going home for the day. "It would be easier to find her if we knew what she looked like."

"It won't be hard to find her." Mousse placed his hands in his sleeves as he waited for the aged elder, better to follow her than get lost again. "She's a purple colored house cat."

Cologne's staff pegged him to the door. "You're telling me you lost track of her to come to me without her, letting her run looking for Ranma Saotome as a house cat?"

"She's a cat." Mousse shrugged. "What could she possibly do to him?"

Cologne stared a hole through him before releasing him. "We must find her immediately." Cologne pogoed through the dining room with Mousse on her heels. Opening the front doors, she looked to the rooftops before deciding where she would to go next. "If she finds that poor boy before we can find her, there's going to be trouble."

"Then let's hurry and find Shampoo before that cad has his way with her." Mousse clenched his fist before him as he looked up into the sky, posing with determination.

"Maybe once you've put clothes on." Cologne deadpanned as she glanced over her shoulder at Mousse.

Shrieking like a little girl, he covered himself with his hands and stumbled his way to the stairs that led to the second floor of the business. The customers had gotten up and headed out the door at the sight of Mousse, their appetite lost.

* * *

"Welcome home, Akane. Who's your friend?" Kasumi asked, her happy smile on her face as she finished towel drying a bowl.

Akane placed her book bag to the side, before acknowledging her elder sister. "This is a friend I met at school today, his name is Ukyo Kuonji."

The boy in question bowed to Kasumi from the doorway, nearly clipping the doorframe with the business end of his oversized spatula on his back "Please excuse my intrusions, Ms. Tendo. I'll only be staying for a short time."

Kasumi smiled at the well mannered boy. "It's no trouble at all. It's a good thing that Akane has found someone who is not a girl to be friends with. We were beginning to think that she was … rooting for the other team."

Ukyo looked at Kasumi with a slightly strange look before looking at Akane who was beginning to get upset. "I am NOT rooting for the other team." Akane wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but she knew that she wasn't, whatever it was.

Kasumi simply smiled, tilting her head to one side as if simply taking Akane's word at face value, even though she knew the truth.

"We're home." Nabiki called as Ukyo disappeared toward the living room with Akane. Ranma walked in behind her, giving Nabiki plenty of room and respect before taking his own shoes off. "Are they in the living room?"

Kasumi nodded. "I take it that you know about our guest then?"

Nabiki nodded, waiting for Ranma to finish. "Is daddy here?"

Kasumi shook her head. "I think he mentioned something about going to meet with Mrs. Saotome about something."

"Good." Nabiki commented as she took Ranma's hand in her own. "Wouldn't want him here when it hits the fan." She walked into the hall toward the living room.

Kasumi's smile disappeared and a frown took its place. It seemed that the new person was going to be a problem that Nabiki needed to deal with, which meant that they were probably here for Ranma instead. She wondered if this was going to be another incident like the lavender haired amazon was, and hoped that things could be taken care of peacefully for a change.

Returning back to the kitchen, she kept her ear out for the conversation beginning in the living room.

"Where to begin?" Nabiki began as she sat next to Ranma on one side of the table, keeping an eye on Ukyo and Akane's glowers.

"How about you begin with something simple. Like, for instance, what's stopping me from beating him into the dirt?" Ukyo pointed to Ranma, waiting for the explanation.

Nabiki nodded before looking at Ranma. "I want you to do something for me, Ranma." Getting his nod almost instantly, she continued. "Face away from the table and take your shirt off."

Akane's eyes narrowed to slits but she held her tongue. Ukyo looked at Nabiki as if she was crazy as Ranma turned around, already undoing the cheongsam he was wearing. If Nabiki thought showing off some flesh on Ranma was going to stop him, she was seriously…?

As Ranma's shirt slid down his back, Ukyo's eyes stared intently at it. Small, overlapping scars ran from one side to the other from his shoulders downward. Pale slashes ran in every possible way over his back all the way down to disappear into his pants below his waist.

"When Ranma came here, he was covered in these all along his back." Nabiki began. "He was dirt covered and a few other things that are just disgusting to repeat, carrying backpacks that should have been torture devices instead of training, and was beaten by both Akane and his father.

"He's also got a curse on him as well." Nabiki added as an afterthought, not wanting to go into details about what the curse was. Who knew what Ukyo would think about that. "During a training accident in China, Ranma and his father were cursed with shape changing curses. Added to the fact that Ranma doesn't try to defend himself, we've gathered that he's gone through hell."

"Serves him right for abandoning me all those years ago." Ukyo muttered just loud enough to get Akane and Nabiki to look at her.

"Maybe you should tell your story then, and give us some idea as to why you feel so pissed off?" Nabiki asked. There's was a major chip on the guy's shoulder and while he talked, she could study him in detail.

"Well, let's see." Ukyo said as he placed a finger to his chin, remembering back into the past. "We met the Saotome's as they had just begun their training from Tokyo, or at least, that was the story at the time. I was just six years old, as was Ranma."

Ukyo's eyes seemed to see off into the past as his voice to on a note of nostalgia. "Me and Ranma had started off as friends, though he would taunt me on more than one occasion while we played. It was nearly a month later that Genma and his son ran off with the family yattai."

Akane stared holes through Ranma's back.

"Stole the family business, did he?" Nabiki sighed as she shook her head.

"Okonomiyaki Uuchan?" Ranma muttered before turning his head to look over his shoulder. Ukyo's eyes had snapped hatefully onto Ranma. "You can't be Uuchan. Uuchan is a girl."

Nabiki and Akane gave Ranma a confused stare before looking at Ukyo, who was turning red in the face. "I am a girl, you jackass!" Ukyo growled, arms flexing as she restrained herself from grabbing her weapon and striking him.

Ranma's nostrils flared as he inhaled slowly, scenting the room. Nabiki smelled of worry and curiosity, nothing to out of the ordinary there. Akane smelled of anger and confusion, also nothing too strange with that. Ukyo smelled of tempura flakes and flour, any scent of his/her emotions masked by the food products s/he used on a constant basis.

"Why the disguise?" Nabiki asked, waiting for the shoe to hit the floor with the other one.

"Genma and Ranma Saotome are the reason." Resentment filled Ukyo's voice as she gave a baleful gaze to Ranma. "It wasn't that they just stole the yattai and ran off with it. Genma Saotome made a pledge with my father before my father handed over the yattai to them. They promised that nothing would come between me and Ranma being together forever."

Ranma rebuttoned his shirt as Ukyo continued. "Because they ran off, leaving me behind, father told me that my dignity and honor had been taken from me and that for me to atone I would have to live as a man instead of a girl."

Akane acted with all the righteousness she could muster, whipping from a sitting position to all out attack in a heartbeat. Ranma barely ducked the savage kick, forcing Nabiki down onto the tabletop so that she wouldn't get clipped by her sister's attack. Ranma moved away from the table and out into the yard, making as much room as he could to get away from the others so that they wouldn't be drawn into the fight.

"You've ruined another woman's life!" Akane shouted as she threw punch after punch, kick after kick toward Ranma, who danced out of her way. "Aren't you simply satisfied with being miserable? You have to bring everyone else down with you?"

Kasumi came running from the kitchen, stopping on the walkway to watch as Akane attempted to punish Ranma once again. Nabiki and Ukyo had joined her, Nabiki watching to see if this would end the same way as how it did the last time Ranma fought Akane while Ukyo studied her enemy, learning how he moved and fought.

"Stand still and fight me for real!" Akane shouted, a red haze masking her sight.

Ranma did as he was instructed to do.

The fist was slow to his eyes, it held plenty of power behind it, but no speed whatsoever behind it. A haymaker, the common punch thrown by street brawlers, drunks looking to catch a person offguard, and anyone who doesn't know how to throw a punch correctly. He could have dodged it easily, except the training under his father coupled with the command laced into the directions made his body respond without thinking. A bad habit that was going to lead him into a world of hurt.

The punch connected with a meaty smack, rocking Ranma's head roughly to the side. Akane felt elation as she hit him, finally catching him off guard as she continued her assault. The kick to the side of his knee made him bend slightly, his leg bending reflexively so as not to break the bones in that joint even as Akane's next haymaker smashed into his chest.

Ranma looked like he bounced as he landed on his back, springing with his hands onto his feet reflexively. Laying on the ground during a fight was a good way of getting killed, something he wasn't allowed to do anymore. She managed to snag his lead, the cord cinched to the collar around his neck making him stop as he tried to lean back from the enraged Akane, only to have his momentum change instantly as she pulled the cord toward her and an oncoming fist.

Ranma ragdolled as soon as the fist connected, legs going limp as his body lost muscle control from the blow. The cord prevented him from going too far as his body tried to roll after the blow, causing his neck to bend awkwardly as she yanked him back toward her. Ranma's eyes stared blankly as Akane kicked him in the ribs hard enough to send his body into the air, the sound of something in him snapping audibly as Akane snarled in delight.

She waited for him to land on the ground before releasing her hold on the lead and gripping his collar in a claw like grip. She dragged him the three feet it took to get to the koi pond before hefting Ranma by his collar around his neck. With a grunt, she executed a judo throw that threw water and fish everywhere, and caused the bottom of the pond itself to crack with the force of impact.

"Time to finish this." Akane thought to herself as she walked over and hefted a stone lantern from the yard, walking her way over to Ranma and holding it over her head in inhuman strength.

The sound of metal echoing hollowly in the air followed by the sudden emergence of stars and her face hurting snapped Akane out of her murderous rage. The stone lantern having been dropped, she stared at the person who had gotten in her way of victory.

"What the hell are you doing, Kasumi?" Akane shouted at her elder sister, seeing her disapproving face fixed on her while she held a softly glowing frying pan. "Another second and we could have gotten back to our normal lives!"

"Another second and you would have been placed in a mental hospital for the rest of your life for murdering a boy who wouldn't even defend himself from you." Kasumi spoke quietly, yet firmly with a steely gaze that was not Kasumi like at all. "Have you lost your mind? You tried to kill someone."

"He's faking it, don't you see?" Akane pointed an accusing finger at the koi pond, Ranma unmoving at the bottom of it.

"How do you know he's faking it, Akane?" Kasumi tapped the side of her frying pan in her hand as she sized her sister up, a slow simmering anger coming to a boil. "Are you suddenly an expert in how people should or should not be? You don't know Ranma in the slightest and you have done nothing but hurt him and call him names to his face daily."

"Oh, that's right, Kasumi. Be the protective mother for poor little Ranma." Akane sneered, acid flying with her words. "You've been nothing but the perfectionist with all of us, being the mother that we lost, having a boyfriend in Tofu, you know everything, don't you?" Kasumi winced as Akane shot accusations at her. "We don't know what's best for us, but Momma Kasumi knows what we should or shouldn't be doing. When do we get to live from out of your shadow, Kasumi?!"

"Akane," Nabiki hissed at her younger sister, "Step back." Nabiki had stood and taken a step into the yard toward her out of control sister.

"You're just as bad as she is!" Akane's finger snapped toward Nabiki, pinning her in place. "The bread winner doesn't get into any trouble, does she? She merely acts like a criminal in public and drags our family name through the mud while making yen over fist, but she can't do no wrong either!"

Nabiki's full arm slap took Akane's cheek by storm as it turned her cheek a blotchy red. "You think it's so easy to make money?" Nabiki retorted, her eyes flashing lightning. "Let's see you make a hundred thousand yen every two weeks. Let's see who out there takes a sixteen year old girl seriously enough to give her a job that'll feed everybody under this roof, pay the bills, pay the taxes on the land, and have enough put back for supplies or an emergency fund."

Akane's malice laced glare stared defiantly back at Nabiki.

"You've seen what it's like just trying to go around to the other dojos, trying to get a match so that they can sign the paperwork daddy gave you." Nabiki tapped Akane in the chest hard, jabbing her fingernail in for emphasis. "No one in their right mind would take a high school girl seriously, let alone one who hates men for being who they are. You'd be fired from every job you took in under two hours, running out of places to work in a month. You'd have to move to find someplace to work at next, and you'd simply be repeating the cycle anywhere you go."

Ranma's shout of terror stopped all arguments short as he sprung to life from out of the koi pond. Incoherent babbling came from Ranma as he blurred back and forth through the yard, tearing through walls as if they were tissue paper as he ran out of the yard into the street beyond and back through a different place. Kasumi had tried to get close to get ahold of Ranma only to be knocked back on her backside as he charged through her, his eyes unseeing as he continued to babble in fright.

"What the hell?" Ukyo shouted as she took her battle spatula from her back and tried to brain Ranma, missing by inches as Ranma turned ninety degrees and kept running at his breakneck speed. "What did you do? Break his brain or something?"

Chains launched themselves from the air as Ranma ran through the yard again, some of them hitting Ranma, but doing nothing to slow him down as he tore through them in his fear. All eyes turned to the two people standing on a bit of broken wall, the white robes and glasses of the male Chinese amazon and of Cologne, the matriarch of her tribe.

"We're too late." Cologne muttered as she watched Ranma tear through more of the yard and started getting closer to the house. "Wrap him up, Mousse, but don't try to hurt him if you can." Cologne pogoed down into the yard as Mousse brought more chains into his hands before snapping both hands forward again, intent on tangling Ranma if he could.

"Elder Cologne?" Kasumi asked as Nabiki helped her to her feet only to have Kasumi push her out of the way as Ranma tore through the spot where she had been standing moments before.

"We need to subdue Ranma as quickly as we can. Try to herd him into one spot so we can wrap him in chains." Cologne shouted as she lashed her cane toward a charging Ranma, causing him to turn sharply and veer away from her.

Akane had no problem with this, whipping out her patented 'Mallet-sama' and swinging for the fences. She'd come close to Ranma with a few swings, and was slowly working him toward Cologne. Kasumi and Nabiki did their best by extending their arms to either side of them, but flinched each time as Ranma came closer and closer to near misses with them. Ukyo had no problem with trying to corral Ranma in, hoping that he 'accidentally' cut himself on the edge of her battle spatula.

Several chains managed to catch hold of Ranma long enough for Cologne to trip him, allowing enough time to dogpile on the struggling martial artist. While the girls held him down, Cologne reached in and pulled out a frazzled looking lavender house cat that was covered in gravel dust and dirt. The moment the cat was removed from Ranma, he settled down to inconsolable weeping from the bottom of the pile.

Cologne gave the frazzled cat an icy stare. "We will talk." She growled to it before turning to look at the girls as they eased their way off of Ranma. "Did we interrupt something?" Cologne asked with a little mirth in her voice, aiming to lighten the mood of all the kids before her.

"Nothing too important." Nabiki sighed as she helped Kasumi off of Ukyo, who was on top of Ranma. "Just a family meltdown."

"Nothing too serious, I hope." Cologne eyed the Tendo daughters who were not looking at each other.

"Is anyone missing a choker?" Ukyo asked, sitting up as she scratched at her arm, a piece of leather held in her hand as she offered it up to everyone.

There was a moment of realization for those who had seen it and could identify it on sight before Ranma meowed low and deep, a soft growl in his throat. Cologne eyes went saucer size before she knocked people clear of Ranma, grabbing Kasumi and Akane by the scruff of their necks and jumping back as a giant bonfire of aura sprung up around him. Pieces of rock floated into the air briefly before being pulverized by the power coming off of him, his pigtail whipping back and forth fiercely as the blue aura continued to crackle around him.

"Do not make any sudden moves." Cologne's voice carried across the yard barely over the threatening meow that Ranma called with again. Hands were clenched into fists and blue ki claws dug into the dirt as Ranma stood up on his hands and feet, bent over himself as he walked on all fours. "Drop anything you have that could be considered a weapon and back slowly away from him." Cologne called out to everyone as she dropped her staff and inched backwards, letting go of Akane and Kasumi at the same time.

Ranma's head snapped up and around him, his eyes glowing with the same blue aura burning around him and off of him. They didn't recognize people around him, or even that they were people. Ranma's sight held confusion and pain with a heavy dose of vengeance, though who was going to be on the receiving end of engine of destruction that was Ranma was debatable.

Kasumi opened her mouth and had it covered just as fast by Cologne. "Don't talk to him right now, don't even draw his attention to you." Ranma's head had snapped around when Cologne had spoken, and he turned around and hunched in a leap, preparing for an attack if they threatened him in any way. "He's not human right now, and definitely too dangerous for all of us right now."

The flames that had been rolling off of Ranma compressed onto his body, a bright shining blue line surrounding him as malice rolled off of him in waves, pressing into everyone as if something physical. Ranma growled deep in his throat, rumbling discontent as he watched them pull back from him slowly.

"Would someone explain to me what is going on?" Ukyo spoke loudly only to give an eep a moment later as Ranma jumped slightly and spun in the air, staring Ukyo down with a daring gaze.

"This is one of the training techniques Genma Saotome put his son through when he was just a child." Cologne spoke calmly and softly, watching as Ranma's pigtailed flicked back and forth with irritation. "Some time during his sixth to eighth birthday, Genma Saotome indoctrinated his son in a technique so outrageous and absolutely dangerous that it mentally impaired Ranma."

"Impaired him into thinking he's a cat?" Ukyo had never seen a dangerous cat, unless she went to the zoo.

"While he's a cat, he's extremely dangerous." Cologne continued, watching Ranma's gaze change from Ukyo to Nabiki. "His ki claws can cut through a steel girder as if it was warm butter, and he's able to project those claws at distance, making him deadly at close and long range attacks."

"Nothing like making a jackass into an all powerful jackass." Ukyo muttered to herself, earning her a deep rumbling from Ranma's throat.

"Ranma? Are you in?" The sound of Nodoka Saotome calling for her son caused everyone to freeze. Coming into sight from the hallway into the living room, Nodoka was closely followed by the Tendo daughter's father, Soun Tendo.

Soun seemed to sense Ranma before Nodoka did, his eyes darting out into the yard where the crouching Ranma was glowing with restrained power. Nodoka was only a moment behind Soun as her eyes took in the yard and her glowing son, her hand coming to her mouth as she stifled her surprise. Neko Ranma stood slowly, sniffing the air toward the new arrivals, one of the scents familiar to him and non-threatening.

He tilted his head to Nabiki again, who continued to sit in the ground, trying to push herself backwards with her feet. Getting up slowly, watching everyone around him, Ranma walked his way over to Nodoka and looked up at her before meowing plaintively to her. The blue glow was beginning to gutter out around Ranma as he sat at Nodoka's feet, looking up at her.

Smoothing her kimono so that she could sit comfortably, Nodoka knelt down and reached a hand out for Ranma. Ranma, taking this as a sign to move, leapt up onto the walkway and rubbed his head into Nodoka's hand, purring softly as he sidled up next to her and rubbed his body against hers. He rubbed circles around her, pressing his body into her over and over again before climbing up into her lap and purring contentedly as fingers rubbed down his neck and along his back.

Seeing that the all clear had been given, the women and Mousse slowly made their way toward the walkway and Ranma, watching as Nodoka wept openly while calming her son.

"That was certainly different." Cologne muttered, taking the severed choker from Ukyo and looking at it.

"Different?" Nodoka asked, her voice caught in her throat.

Nabiki nodded. "He was more animal this time." She commented, wrapping her arms around herself as she tried to calm down. "He was meowing and growling and everything this time, not like last time where he was simply attacking."

"I think it had something to do with this." Cologne said, getting everyone's eyes to look at the torn choker. "I think Ranma's brain imprinted on this, allowing him to have a semblance of control where his human half was still trying to assert control while he was going wild. With this gone and nothing to trigger his human mind to stay awake while in the Neko-Ken, you get the full blown Cat Fist."

Kasumi stared at the torn leather before eyeing Ranma. "How long does someone have to wear something before unconsciously imprinting on it?" She asked, wondering if she really wanted to know this answer.

"I think it's worse than that." Cologne spoke, eyeing the scar around Ranma's neck, a discolored line that dug into his skin and went all the way around. "Mousse, we're leaving. We need to have a talk with Shampoo."

Mousse looked around the yard. "That may be a bit easier said than done, Elder."

Cologne looked around the yard herself, realizing that she had tossed Shampoo to the side when Ranma had started to slip into the Neko-Ken. Seeing no sign of the lavender haired cat, she sighed. "Let us go home anyways. She will have to go to sleep sooner or later, it will be easier to find her once we hear about a strange girl sleeping out in the open."

"And if she stays in her cat form?" Mousse asked, wondering if there were any long term effects to being in a cursed form for a protracted period of time.

"I don't think she'll like it when she starts going into heat." Cologne spoke with a snicker before picking her staff up and pogoing out of the grounds, Mousse following after her.

"This is not what I signed up for." Ukyo muttered, clearly regretting tracking down and finding Ranma Saotome.

Soun eyed the person, seeing a boy. "I'm sorry you had to see that." Soun apologized, bowing to Ukyo. "Normally things are…quieter around here." He winced as he looked at the devastated walls of the yard.

"Not as sorry as I am." Ukyo retorted as she eyed Nodoka. "You're Mrs. Saotome? Ranma's mom?" She began unfastening her top, wanting explanations out of the way quickly with what she was about to do.

Nodoka eyed the young man as he unbuttoned his shirt, revealing chest bindings underneath. "Yes, I am. How may I help you, young man?"

"It's young lady, Ma'am." Ukyo pulled enough of her shirt open to reveal her breasts tightly bound to her body under the wrappings. "I'm Ukyo Kuonji, Mrs Saotome. I'm your son's fiancée."

* * *

He had been in the hospital for the better part of three weeks now. His legs were nearly healed up, but his arm was going to have to take a little longer before coming out of its cast. It had not been a bad three weeks, lonely to be sure, but Dr. Mizuno had kept him company as she could.

It was obvious to him that Dr. Mizuno was trying to make a move on him, or at least get him interested in her. She wasn't bad looking, she was just so…old. Granted, she was nearly his own age if a few years older than he was, he just liked girls…young.

He had already made arrangements through the proper lines to get his practice back up and running, it would be necessary to get back to what he was good at doing. His needs were beginning to claw at his insides, it had nearly been a month without even seeing anything remotely illegal make its way into his room. Dr. Mizuno had mentioned something about a daughter who was attending school, Ami he thought she had mentioned.

If Dr. Mizuno was something to look at, her daughter must have been a looker as well. Not as much as the fair Kasumi had been in her younger years, but still something he would like to sink his…teeth… into. He could feel his hands itching in the palms to touch something barely legal in a skirt, something that would cry out in embarrassment and beg to have him let go of them before he did what he loved to do to them.

His line of thought was cut off as Dr. Mizuno walked in, chart in hand as she made her rounds. "Good afternoon, Dr. Tofu." She smiled as she spoke to him, a glimmer of happiness in her eyes as she walked around to the side of his bed.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Mizuno." Tofu spoke kindly, his hand twitching toward her leg for just a moment before he reined it in. Better not give her any ideas, or for that fact, a reason to have him under watch.

"I have good news for you, Doctor." Dr. Mizuno smiled as she placed the pen to the top of the clipboard and smiled down at him, leaning slightly so he could get a look down her shirt. "Your request was approved by the hospital. You may go home under your own supervision as long as you remember that you are still a patient and cannot treat anyone in your condition."

Tofu smiled. "Did you have anything to do with that, Dr. Mizuno?" He asked politely while mentally cheering his good fortune.

"I might have pulled a string or two in your favor." Dr. Mizuno gave him a sly smile.

"I am truly grateful." Tofu grinned as he planned on where he would go first. "Is there anything I can do to repay your kindness?"

"There is one thing." Tofu mentally groaned as she smiled sweetly at him. "I would like to treat you to a real meal outside of the hospital at my place. Strictly professional, of course."

Tofu blinked. "Your place?" This had possibilities. "I thought you and your daughter lived alone?"

"Well, if you can stand to be around my daughter, I'm sure that the meal will be well above par compared to this stuff they've been feeding you." Dr. Mizuno fingered the Styrofoam that held the 'meal' he had been given for lunch.

"I don't want to inconvenience either of you." It would be an inconvenience if he had to sit through a meal with the good doctor and not her daughter as well.

"Think nothing of it, in fact, I can arrange it so that you are released the same time I go off shift tomorrow." Dr. Mizuno raised her finger in the air, as if in an all knowing pose giving a lesson to her student.

"Then I will await your gracious offer with anticipation." Tofu grinned brightly, seeing the flush that seemed to flood into Dr. Mizuno's cheeks.

"I'm sorry that you have to wait until tomorrow." She stammered, her hands behind her back as she felt butterflies launch in her stomach.

"Believe me, Dr. Mizuno," Tofu turned his smile up a few more notches, "I can hardly wait."

* * *

**Tofu was coming back, his suffering is just beginning, but it's going to be nothing compared to what is going to be done with Genma. Like I said earlier, Akane's little problems would be examined into and it looks as if she has envy issues with her siblings. It's too bad she has misplaced trust with the good doctor and even tricked Ukyo into signing that paper her father required of her. Who else does she have on that sheet anyways? Maybe it's time for a Tendo Throwdown?**

**I have been getting more and more people telling me Kasumi/Ranma/Nabiki. This isn't too bad, per se. Just that the sisters have a lot of issues with themselves to work out before worrying about a love interest. There probably will be one, sooner or later, but right now it's just innocent cuddle time with everyone's favorite pigtailed punching bag.**

**Oh yeah, there will be a Naginata/Mallet-sama fight. Nabiki's taking all bets, so go to her to place your money.**


	12. Anger Management

**I think I expressed this earlier, but let me make mention of it once again. You guys got off easy with the earlier chapters coming out rapid fire, but I am the King of Procrastination! I got an S.O.S. from a family memebr to help out wiht his community theatre and was obligated to go and make a fool out of myself. It's in my contract right next to 'poor penmanship' and 'dark fic writing is a must'. Anyways, now that this chapter has arrived, I think I will briefly mention the greatness that is all of you. 100 of you have this story on alert, and it has hit 17 different c2's with close to 26,000 hits. To all of you, I bow and worship all for having the fortitude to continue onward and read this tripe.**

**Disclaimer: Headless Horsemen cannot stop me from writing this story, though it is not owned by me and I'm not making any money off of it. The only thing that can stop me is the lawyers and Takahashi Rumiko-sama.**

* * *

"Let me see if I understand you correctly." Nodoka spoke candidly to Ukyo while Ranma slept in her lap, his purring dying down more and more. "My husband made a vow with your father to accept the dowry and you to take with them on their training trip, but after the first day, you woke up abandoned along the side of the road?" 

Ukyo laid her chopsticks down on the table next to her plate as she looked up at Nodoka. "Yes, ma'am." She answered, making sure to keep eye contact with the matriarch of the Saotome's.

Nodoka's eyebrow twitched. "Your father told you that you were betrothed to them and that you were to live your life as a man in shame until you found them and either killed them to redeem yourself or have them accept the agreement, is that also correct?"

Ukyo nodded, making Nodoka's eyebrow twitch harder.

Soun watched the facial features of his friend's wife. Since coming back with her from their meeting for Ranma's welfare, she had not lost that frozen smile on her face, the kind one gets when you're trying not to ground your teeth into dust in anger. He glanced over to his daughters who had been suspiciously silent all dinner long. Kasumi and Nabiki flanked Nodoka on either side, staring hotly across the table to Akane, who sat between him and Ukyo, giving just as good as she was getting in terms of hostility.

"I see that I will have to hire someone to find my husband." Nodoka spoke coldly, the hand holding her chopsticks snapped them in half before expertly flipping them into her palm and grinding them into fine shavings with the force of her anger.

"It won't be easy to track down Genma." Soun spoke, offering his best opinion. "When training under our Master, Genma and I learned to flee very quickly when necessary and to hide when it was absolutely necessary."

Nodoka eyed Soun with a calculating look. "This Master of yours sounds like an interesting man."

Soun shuddered openly. "We never thought of him as a man, more like a demon in disguise."

"Mrs. Saotome." Ukyo spoke up, getting Nodoka's attention once again. "About the arranged marriage…"

Nodoka sighed as she looked down at her son. "Normally, I would say that I would back your claim for engagement." She stroked Ranma's hair as she considered her next words. "You have lived so long as a man by family edict that you have missed out on so many things. You should be allowed some recompense for the hell my husband has put you through, however, Ranma cannot be held accountable for anything his father has done in his name."

Ukyo frowned but nodded after a moment. "What can be done then?"

Nodoka thought long and hard before answering. "I will officially offer you a place in the family register, giving you the option of retaining your name, but giving you the option at a later date to marry my son." Nodoka looked sadly down at Ranma before she continued. "He is going to need so much help getting him better, I'm afraid that the doctor's I work with will not be able to do anything for him."

Nabiki's head came around to look at Nodoka in surprise. "You work with doctor's?"

Nodoka nodded. "It's not well known, but I thought it would be good to learn basic medical practices since both my husband and son were to be martial artists. It would save on money if I could treat them in the house than send them to a hospital every time they hurt themselves." Nodoka smiled wistfully, if a bit sadly down at the table. "I was going to be able to take care of my son's problems."

Silence reigned as everyone thought their own private thoughts.

It was minutes afterwards that Ukyo excused herself for the night. Claiming an early start for the day and plans for making arrangements to open an actual business instead of a roadside shop, she headed off for wherever she was sleeping for the night. Kasumi had offered her a place to sleep, however she had enough of the open wound that was the Tendo Family.

Nodoka had taken Ranma upstairs, still asleep in his neko mindset. She had taken Kasumi's offer for staying the night, mentioning that she would sleep with her son in his room. Once Kasumi had made arrangements for the female Saotome, she came back downstairs and sat at the table where an impromptu family meeting was beginning.

Soun looked at all of his daughters in the face. "I want to know what happened." Soun spoke firmly, eyeing each daughter with a hard gaze as he looked from one to the next.

"Who should go first?" Nabiki asked, wondering who would want to tell their father that the daughters had tried to hurt each other for the sake of hurting.

"The fact that you even asked is proof enough to me that you all have something to hide." Soun gave another round of firm gazes to his children. "Why are their holes in the wall out in my yard, why is the koi pond empty and looking like a body has been imbedded into the bottom, and why does it look like you're going to rip each other to pieces if I turn my back?"

Nabiki and Kasumi looked at each other whereas Akane continued to give them a dirty glare. Nabiki turned to her father and began to explain, "It started with Ukyo and her past."

"It started with Ranma and his father." Akane spat, interrupting Nabiki.

"What did Ranma do this time?" Soun asked his youngest daughter, wondering what slight he could have done this time.

"He ruined that poor girl's life, running off on her with her dowry and causing her to go back to her father who forced her to live as a boy." She said the last word with as much hate as she could possibly load into that word.

"Akane fought Ranma until he was unable to fight back, or unwilling," Nabiki spoke, giving both Kasumi and Akane a glance to make sure neither of them were going to go after each other, "then she took one of the stone lanterns and tried to smash him into America through the planet."

Soun blinked at the euphemism before looking at his youngest daughter as if never seeing her before in this light.

"Kasumi struck Akane in the face with a frying pan to prevent her from killing Ranma." Nabiki said, watching Kasumi finger the frying pan that seemed to appear in her hands at its mention.

Soun looked at his eldest daughter, also unsure if this was his oldest child or some alien that had managed to replace her. He figured that it had to be the real deal, considering no alien could cook a meal fit for Kami-sama himself.

"During the staring contest that ensued, Shampoo who had turned into a cat, latched onto Ranma, causing him to go nuts." Nabiki finished up before pointing out into the yard. "That is the end result before you showed up with Mrs. Saotome."

Soun stared between his eldest daughter and his youngest before sighing. "What am I going to do with the both of you? You have brought shame to this household."

"You mean Mother Kasumi did something wrong?" Kasumi twitched as Akane spoke, but restrained herself. "Guess she's human after all."

"Father." The frown on Kasumi's face looked as if it was about to turn into a snarl, something that just didn't fit Kasumi's natural good looks. "I wish to challenge Akane in a friendly sparring match."

Soun turned his head fast enough that his neck popped in protest. "Kasumi, you want to fight your sister?"

"I do not want to fight my sister, Father." Kasumi did actually sound like she meant that. "I simply wish to spar with her. I want to see how far my skills have come compared to Akane seeing as she is the Heir to the school."

"I've got nothing to prove to you." Akane smirked at her eldest sister.

"If she wins, I will accept my loss as reason enough for her to continue studying Anything Goes, foregoing the need to gather any more names to her paper." Kasumi baited her sister, knowing she'll jump and willingly.

"Kasumi, you mustn't…" Soun began before being spoken over.

"I accept your challenge." Akane had already stood up, fists clenched to her sides.

Nabiki stood as well, looking between Akane and Kasumi. Kasumi soon stood as well, keeping her eyes locked on Akane's. "Shall we head to the dojo then?" Kasumi's hand brushed over her skirt unconsciously, smoothing it as her other hand tightened on the handle of her frying pan.

Soun looked between his daughters, tears flowing down his cheeks in rivers as he imagined his children beating the snot out of each other.

"Shouldn't you change first?" Akane sneered at Kasumi, eyeing her skirt and apron.

"That won't be necessary." Kasumi said calmly as she stepped around the table and headed for the dojo, clearly unconcerned at having Akane at her back. Nabiki followed her out the hall before Akane stepped after them.

Soun clambered to his feet, hands slipping on the floor where his tears had begun to pool before he headed after his daughters, hoping to keep them from hurting each other too badly.

Nabiki was standing between them, acting as the referee as she gave each of them instructions by the time Soun stepped into the dojo. "The first to score three points will be declared the winner. No killing blows are allowed. Any and all practice weapons are permitted during the fight, nothing lethal."

Akane watched as Kasumi stretched before doing a quick warm up kata, waiting for her to take her place on the line and begin what was going to be the start of vindication for her. Kasumi stepped up to the line, taking a slightly open stance as Akane took a highly offensive one, both hands held up in front of herself as she waited for the start.

Nabiki looked over to her father and nodded to him, deferring to him to announce the beginning of the match. Soun sighed before looking between his two daughters, praying that they would at least show a little restraint.

"Begin!" He shouted, watching as his two daughters made their opening move.

Akane charged in, her anger leading her attack as she openly shouted a gradually climbing attack cry. She threw her punch with all the skill she could muster, intending on hitting Kasumi hard with her first blow and making her think twice about attacking back. The sound of her fist hitting metal echoed dully in the room followed by the pained shout of Akane as she drew her back and held it close to her body, leaving herself exposed for the follow up shot to the top of her head that dropped her on one knee.

Kasumi stepped back, landing the ki created frying pan squarely into the top of Akane's head and making her see stars momentarily. She knew that she wasn't going to be able to keep up with her sister in a hand to hand fight, barely having learned the first few katas of the new martial art her father and Ranma were teaching her. She was going to have to escalate things into the weapons aspect of this fight that was bound to happen.

Akane's mallet snapped into reality in her hand and she rose up from her crouch, slinging it back over her back intending on driving Kasumi through the floor like a spike into the ground.

"One point, Kasumi." Soun called, stopping the fight. Akane's faced screamed indignation as she made her way back onto her line, twitching in frustration from being stopped from finishing her follow through.

While Akane reset herself in her spot, Kasumi calmly willed her frying pan from her as she took her practice naginata from the wall and brought it back with her. Holding the attacking end high before her while the back end was held low by her hip, she took her place at her line, taking a deep footed stance.

Soun winced as he looked at the determination in both of their faces. Nabiki was calculating odds in her head with a blank look on her face.

"Begin!" Soun shouted.

The sounds of rapid fire strikes on wooden surfaces clacked loudly as Kasumi traded blows and tested Akane's defenses with her mallet. In her estimation, Akane was a better fighter with her mallet in hand than she was as a bare handed fighter. Akane's swings were gradually coming closer to Kasumi and she had to shift her stance more than once to maintain her balance as she parried and struck back, edging her own weapon closer to Akane's body.

Kasumi's reach was suddenly too far off as Akane side stepped, reaching back her mallet to slam Kasumi down into the floor with her overhead swing. Kasumi managed to get her weapon in front of her and use the weapon as a shock absorber from the blow as it knocked her back and into one of the supports in the dojo hard. This was definitely not the same as cleaning the living room.

Akane's follow up attack swung at her from the side and she managed to get her weapon to block this one as well, though the shaft cracked audibly. Taking the second to reverse her swing, Akane pivoted on her foot and used her body to swing the mallet, swinging for the fences like a baseball player aiming for that home run.

Kasumi ducked the swing, allowing the mallet to hit the pillar while bringing the end up and placing it at Akane's throat, breathing hard while her back ached.

"One point, Kasumi." Soun managed to sigh as he relaxed. Akane was using everything she had to fight Kasumi and it was a near thing that Kasumi managed to dodge that last blow. If Akane had kept her eye on her as she spun her weapon around, Kasumi would have been hit for sure.

Nabiki tilted her head to the side and looked toward the doorway of the dojo. She thought she had heard Mrs. Saotome a moment ago before the point was called.

"Take your places." Soun directed, wanting to finish this as quickly as possible. He didn't like sitting to the side and watching his daughters fighting each other with as little restraint as they'd shown so far.

Kasumi and Akane each took their places, breathing heavily. Both looked as if they were intending on taking the other's head off with the next pass. Soun glanced back and forth between his daughters, praying they would not kill each other.

"Begin!" He shouted, Akane lunging toward Kasumi before she could set up for an attack.

Kasumi stepped back, intent on using her weapon to block the first shot and parry the second. Akane brought the upper part of her mallet against Kasumi's naginata and drove down with it, snapping the weapon into two pieces. Kasumi gave the broken weapon a surprised glance before tossing the pieces to the side and stepping back from Akane. She didn't get far enough away as Akane drove the butt end of her mallet's handle into Kasumi's stomach, taking her breath from her before sliding her hand up the shaft, aiming for the back of Kasumi's head.

Kasumi rolled out from underneath the attack, coming to her knees before turning back into Akane as she turned around to get her. She managed to bring her ki created frying pan up and in front of her face before Akane's mallet found purchase in her cheek, making the frying pan go for a flight into the air out of Kasumi's hand. Akane snarled in victory as she reared back once again, tensing her muscles as she aimed true.

Kasumi pivoted on her heel, barely moving aside from the mallet as it smashed into the floor. Akane looked to her side, finding Kasumi standing over her before the backhanded fist hit her in the cheek and knocked her down to one knee.

"Match point, Kasumi!" Nabiki shouted as Soun leapt up from where he was and bodily got between Akane and Kasumi.

"You cheated!" Akane shouted, trying to push her way past her father.

"Enough!" Soun shouted, calming tempers as Nabiki got up and was headed for Akane to tear into her as well. "This sparring match is over! We are done for the night!" He looked back and forth from his elder children to his youngest. "If cooler heads cannot prevail, then there will be no practice tonight!"

Kasumi stepped back from her father and bowed to Akane, making sure to take her eyes from her before standing back up again. Akane refused to bow or to back down, wanting to get past her father to go after Kasumi again. The sound of a grown woman's soul rending wail filtered into the dojo, making everyone stop before rushing into the house for the second floor.

The guest bedroom door was slid open to show a weeping Nodoka cradling her son to her chest. Ranma's shirt had been taken off, exposing his back to Nodoka, who could do nothing but cry her apologies to her son as she stroked his head. Ranma stared at nothing as she rocked him against her body, the lack of movement from him an indication that he had snapped out of the Neko-Ken state before she had begun to undress him for bed.

Realizing that she had an audience, Nodoka looked at the doorway. "What did he do to my son?"

Kasumi stepped into the room and cradled Nodoka to her, murmuring soothing words to her as she helped Ranma loose from her grip, consoling the heartbroken mother. Soun shooed his other two daughters back downstairs before looking into the guest bedroom. He could only shake his head before closing the door, allowing Kasumi to try and patch together the mother of a broken child.

* * *

Nabiki sat at the table, waiting until Kasumi came back down looking more tired than she had ever seen. "How is she?" she asked her elder sister, getting her attention as she walked into the living room before taking a hard seat nearby. 

"Devastated is a good word for it." Kasumi winced as she sat upright, her back aching. "She knew that Ranma has suffered because of his father, but she didn't think it was as bas as it sounded until she saw Ranma's back."

"Just thought it was a few bumps and scrapes, huh?" Nabiki asked clinically as she sipped at a glass to tea.

Kasumi didn't move as she considered what she had heard. "She expected a few scars, but nothing like what Ranma's back looked like."

"She took it better than I did." Nabiki still felt like getting sick, though without the gag reflex egging her on. "Are you alright, sis? You look like you're hurting."

"I'll be alright once I lay down." Kasumi smiled to her sister. She winced as her back twinged, but she forced the pain down once again. There had been a lot of anger after Akane had nearly killed Ranma, something was going to have to be done about it.

"Ya know," Nabiki began, "something's going to have to be done about Akane." Wondering if Nabiki was beginning to show signs of mind reading, Kasumi asked her to continue. "She's becoming way too hostile to Ranma. This last time, she was going to crush his skull out there if you didn't stop her."

Kasumi frowned. "She's taking her frustrations out on him, not trying to kill him." Kasumi spoke at last after thinking on it for a bit. "I think she's under stress from herself as much as she is from father and school."

Nabiki thought on that for a moment. It was true that Akane was the Heir to the Tendo Anything Goes art, but now that the art wasn't being practiced anymore, she had lost that. Coupled with the fact that Ranma's arrival on top of the Hentai Horde doing everything they can to get under her skirt and Kuno not catching a clue that he was not as well liked as he thought he was, Akane was a psycho in the making.

"I'm surprised she didn't snap sooner." Nabiki took a long drink from her tea before placing the cup before her and leaned back. "Kami, our family is seriously messed up." They sat in silence for a bit before Nabiki spoke once again. "Do you think Mrs. Saotome is going to marry Ranma to Ukyo if he ever gets better?"

Kasumi didn't know how to answer that. It wasn't that long ago when she had advised her father to accept the arranged marriage between Ranma and a Tendo to join the schools together. Now that there was no Tendo Anything Goes school, the engagement wasn't necessary anymore.

"Would you want to marry Ranma the way he is now?" Kasumi asked Nabiki, confident in her own answer.

Nabiki pondered that. She was only seventeen, which meant she had her whole life in front of her, not to mention her whole career in front of her as well. Being so busy with making money, she had never spent any time with anyone of the opposite sex unless they owed her money or wanted something from her. She had become mercenary in both word and deed. Maybe Akane was on to something afterall.

"Don't stay up too late, Kasumi." Nabiki took her cup with her as she headed into the kitchen before heading off to bed. She'd worry about filling the holes in the outer wall tomorrow.

Kasumi watched as Nabiki walked into the kitchen and listened for her sister to head upstairs before she relaxed and laid across the top of the table with her upper body, placing her arms underneath her head. Her back ached from the punishment Akane had inflicted on it, but she pushed it down to a dull throb. She wondered once again what it would take to calm her youngest sister down from the near murderous rage she had and be the woman she knew Akane could be, but she wasn't feeling a whole lot of sympathy at just that moment.

She had fended her sister off this time, barely managing to get that last point in. Akane would have beaten her had the fight gone on to longer, the fact that she was able to strike as hard as she had with her mallet was evidence enough for her. She was going to have to put more time into learning her father's art, and it was going to become harder and harder for her to do everything around the house if that was to happen. She sighed, feeling the first bits of despair crawling into her as she wondered how she was going to get everything done while keeping up with her lessons.

She gasped when she felt someone touch her back gently before they started to work her soreness out. The gasp was quickly subdued as she nearly purred at how the hands worked on her body, allowing her muscles to stop complaining and relax under the touch of their delicate caress. She couldn't feel the hands very well through her blouse, but she could only think of one person who would treat her this way and be able to approach her without being heard.

"Ranma? You couldn't sleep?" Kasumi asked with a muffled voice, her face still between her arms as she lay against the tabletop.

"I heard you and Nabiki talking down here." Ranma spoke gently, his voice barely making it to her ears before it died in the air.

Kasumi's eyes closed as she felt his hands kneading out the knots her muscles had become. "You should be getting your rest. You had a terrible day today."

"I wanted to apologize to you." Ranma's voice hitched slightly, but Kasumi missed it as she made a noise in her throat when Ranma's hand released a knot she didn't realize she had.

"You're very sweet, Ranma." Kasumi murmured, coming to like the feel of his hands as they massaged her hurts away.

She felt Ranma's hands hesitate for a second before resuming their ministrations on her back, carefully playing from her shoulders downward as he found by touch alone the places she hurt and massaged them away. "I made everyone mad today, didn't I?" Ranma's voice made Kasumi clench up for a moment as she tried to sit up, only to be gently pushed back down across the tabletop.

"You did nothing wrong, Ranma." Kasumi tried to placate him. "It was a misunderstanding that blew out of proportion."

"Ucchan is right, though." Ranma's hands stopped once again. "I remember her waving after us as my father made off with her cart, leaving her behind. I even remember the tears she was crying as we escaped down the road away from her." Ranma's hands started working again before he spoke one more time. "I deserved everything I got. I probably deserve even more than that."

Kasumi's hand came back and reached for his arm, stopping him as she turned where she sat, sitting up easier than before. She looked at Ranma in the face, seeing him looking as if he was about to collapse into tears at a moment's notice.

"You did nothing wrong and didn't deserve to be hurt by Akane like you were." Kasumi chided gently, looking kindly into Ranma's face. "What was done to her was wrong, but that wasn't your fault. You were too young to understand what was going on, and what your father has done to the both of you was by far worse than anything."

Ranma's eyes began to leak tears as his bottom lip trembled. "I'm sorry…" He whimpered with eyes that screamed misery. Kasumi shifted around as she reached for Ranma and pulled him into a gentle embrace, stroking his hair softly as he cried, his body shivering with his sobs.

Kasumi wished there was more she could do for him, but she didn't know how to do it if there was a way at all.

* * *

Ranma disappeared before morning. 

Nodoka was beside herself, thinking her husband had snuck into her room sometime during the night and snatched her child away from her to take him off and do more unthinkable things to him than before. It was impossible to speak to her when she was in this state and the best that they could manage was to keep her calm, reassure her that Ranma was alright, and to keep her katana from her grip.

Nabiki and Kasumi were both in agreement that Ranma had felt guilty over the destruction of the house and of the outside wall and had probably gone off to another of those pit fights to make the money for repairs. They didn't voice this idea to anyone for fear of what Nodoka would do if she heard that her child was putting his life on the line to make the money for reparations that weren't his fault in the first place.

Soun, unable to console Nodoka, trained harder than ever. He could guess what had happened to Ranma as well and it meant that the money being made in his council position wasn't nearly enough for all the damages. He was going to have to open the dojo up to students sooner than necessary, and it was going to be very hard to open the school up when the Anything Goes name was as bad as it had been.

Nabiki was coming home when she found Ranma, though he wasn't as messed up as he had been, he was still bleeding from his head while in cursed form, bandages wrapped through her red locks that had been stained with dried blood. Taking hold of Ranma's arm, she led Ranma back to the house where Nodoka had refused to leave from.

Nabiki had opened the door, dragging a very roughed up looking Ranma-chan behind her when she called for help. "Kasumi, bring out the first-aid kit, would you?"

Kasumi stuck her head out from the kitchen, noticing Ranma almost instantly as she disappeared back into the kitchen, appearing only moments later with the first-aid kit in hand. "Oh, Ranma, where have you been?" Kasumi asked as she took Ranma-chan's other arm in hers and helped Nabiki take Ranma into the living room and to the back walkway.

Ranma wordlessly reached into her black pants that had acquired even more rips and handed Nabiki a ticket stub and a bank receipt. "It appears he was in Kawasaki this time." Nabiki mentioned as she pocketed the bank receipt for later. "Honestly, Ranma, we're not so poor that you have to do this to yourself for us."

Ranma's blue eyes looked at Nabiki briefly before staring off at nothing.

"I'll go up and tell Mrs. Saotome her son is back." Nabiki sighed as she headed up the stairs. It was hard to tell what was going on in Ranma's head, it didn't help anyone that he looked at him in the way she had got.

Kasumi looked at her sister as she went up the stairs to the guest bedroom before turning around and looking at Ranma's head carefully, using a swab doused in alcohol for the cuts and abrasions she could find. "We were worried about you, Ranma. It looks like you didn't get hurt so badly this time." Kasumi thought to herself how she would be so upset to see Ranma return to her in as bad a state as he had the first time he had gone to the pit fights.

Taking a moment to wrap her arms around Ranma-chan, she held the boy changed girl in her arms carefully. "Please, don't hurt yourself on our account, Ranma. It hurts to see you like this."

Ranma averted her eyes from Kasumi, guilt flooding her.

The sound of a door slamming open had Kasumi sitting up and looking back toward the front door. Crying tears of happiness, Nodoka swept Ranma into her arms and cried at how happy she was to see her child once again. Kasumi blinked a few times at how fast Nodoka had flown down the stairs and somehow come to an immediate stop without looking windswept or even hurting herself from a leap of that height.

Leaving Nodoka to her child, Kasumi headed back into the kitchen, glad that Ranma had come back to them.

Nabiki walked into the living room looking a little dazed. Apparently she had gotten too close to Nodoka when she had come out of her room and rushed to find Ranma to make sure he was well. She stood in the hallway and watched as Nodoka doted on Ranma-chan, taking extremely great care with her as she patched her up one part at a time.

It was touching to watch a mother and their child together, the mother doing everything she could to make her child feel comfortable. She wondered if that was what it was like for her and her mother when she was alive, it was hard to remember her specifically, just the general feeling of wellbeing that she seemed to give off when taking care of her children.

"Mrs. Saotome." Nabiki spoke up, not wanting to break the peace she was exhibiting around Ranma, but curious to something. "Excuse me for interrupting you, but I wanted to ask you something."

"What can I help you with, Nabiki?" Nodoka asked as she placed a band-aid just below Ranma-chan's eye.

"I was wondering about the arranged marriage between Ukyo and Ranma." Nabiki watched Nodoka's hand hesitate before taking out a roll of bandages and started to wrap it around Ranma-chan's upper left arm. "Do you intend on honoring her claim to marry your son?"

Nodoka continued to work momentarily before she spoke again. "My husband is an idiot for doing all of this." She muttered darkly as she took care of a shallow gash with a bit of ointment. "Is there a reason why you want to know whether I am considering it or not?"

Nabiki weighed the consequences before answering. "Our father and your husband made an agreement to join the schools, and when they first arrived, Genma and daddy announced that one of us was to be fiancée to Ranma." Nodoka seemed to bristle slightly, her hair actually starting to rise up. "I think that…" Nabiki hesitated shortly before continuing, "Kasumi is considering taking what we thought was a safety measure for Ranma for real."

"A safety measure for Ranma?" Nodoka barely whispered as her eyes darted from her son turned daughter to Nabiki.

"At first, daddy was going to break the engagement, but after we saw how Genma disciplined him…" Nabiki slowly stopped speaking when the death rays launching from Nodoka looked onto her.

"Your father explained to me about that incident, though I would ask you the same thing as I asked him and do not bring up that subject, please." Nodoka calmed down almost instantly when Nabiki nodded. "I know all you wanted to do is make sure I knew everything, and I'm not mad at you, dear. Genma Saotome is a subject I have a problem with."

Nabiki remembered her father announcing to them that Nodoka wanted Ranma to be engaged to a Tendo. "The reason I'm asking is because with Ukyo now being a possible fiancée for Ranma, what would that mean for us?"

"Why nothing, dear." Nodoka said as she finished up the last bandage before stroking her son turned daughter's hair. "It simply means that you will have a co-wife."

Nabiki's eyebrow raised nearly to her hairline. "A co-wife?"

Nodoka smiled softly as she spoke, admiring the beauty her son could change into. "I don't have a problem if Ranma wants to be with more than one woman in his life, and I won't force him to marry any if he doesn't want to. They will be his wife simply in spirit." 'I can get a lot more grandchildren that way!' Nodoka thought happily.

Unnerved by what she was hearing, Nabiki slowly turned around and headed for the safety of her room.

* * *

Akane was out jogging. It was the only way she could get any peace anymore after her disappointing fight with her sister. She had managed to get a few good attacks in, forced Kasumi back and had nearly disarmed her, but in the end it was another loss for her. 

She wasn't strong enough yet. That could be the only reason why she had lost, even if it had been her sister that had defeated her. She needed to train harder, she needed to break more bricks, she needed to run more miles.

She needed to hurt Ranma Saotome for ruining her life!

Ever since that boy had come into her house with his skilled father, her rightful inheritance in the family's art had been abandoned and the 'new' version of the art created. Her sisters who would help her out with her problems had turned on her for that boy, confronting her with hostility and even going so far as to prevent her from hurting him when he deserved it.

She would have continued in this line of thought had a furry white and black arm not sudeenly reach out from an alleyway and pull her into it with a quick motion. She was dropped onto the ground unceremoniously before she realized what had happened to her.

Leaping to her feet, she clenched one fist in front of her and shouted at the top of her lungs, "What the hell is the meaning of this?" A furry paw clamped over her mouth with one clawed finger making a hushing motion in front of its mouth. Akane got a better look at the person that had caught her off guard. "Mr. Saotome?"

Panda Genma raised a sign above his head from nowhere that said, _'I'm looking for my son'._

"He's with Mrs. Saotome at our home." Akane answered calmly, not finding it the least bit suspicious that she had been pulled off the street by the panda.

Genma Panda physically flinched. If his son was in the company of his wife, it was going to be that much harder to get him, let alone from the lavender haired amazon he had seen on the streets on her ten speed o' doom. She rode at breakneck speeds around town and on places that would boggle the mind if they didn't know she was a high caliber martial artist.

"Hey, Mr. Saotome." Akane broke him out of his contemplation as he turned his gaze to her. "Why are you in your panda form?"

Genma Panda's eyebrow twitched before he raised another sign from somewhere on his body. _'The pill was a fake. Those amazon lied to me.'_

"I'm so sorry to hear that." Akane sounded truly sorry for his predicament as she bowed to him. "It's all Ranma's fault anyways. They probably planned something like this to keep you away from him."

_'That doesn't matter'_ Genma Panda's sign said as he raised it once again before flipping it, _'I need to get Ranma alone'_.

Akane placed her hand on her chin. "That could be a problem. He only leaves the house for school and when running errands for Kasumi." Before she when on with this line of thought, she suddenly looked up at Genma Panda. "Mr. Saotome, I need to ask you something. I want to learn from your school of Anything Goes."

Genma Panda seemed to stare dumbly at the little dark haired girl. She stared hopefully up into the face of the Panda cursed individual until he pulled a sign out. _'If you can help me get Ranma back'_, the sign flipped, _'then I'll teach you'_.

"Don't worry, Mr. Saotome." Akane said as she grinned happily, fist held up in the air. "I'll find a way to get Ranma out of the house for you. All you have to do is be ready for him."

Genma watched as she headed back out into the street and continued her jog as if she had never met him in the first place and had only stopped off in the alley to rest. Genma's eyes narrowed as he followed the youngest daughter of the Tendo's with his gaze.

* * *

"Kasumi, I'd like to have a word with you, please." Nodoka spoke as she stepped into the kitchen during the lunch hour, her and Kasumi the only other ones left in the house while everyone else was out either at their jobs or off getting their higher education. Ranma had been allowed to stay home for the time being, and Nodoka was trying to be quiet while her son slept peacefully in the living room. 

"Yes, Mrs. Saotome?" Kasumi smiled over her shoulder as she continued to prepare a light lunch for everyone.

"Now, Kasumi, you don't have to call me that." Nodoka's frown marred her looks for a moment. "In fact, I would prefer you didn't call me Saotome at all. I think I will be returning to my maiden name as soon as I can get to the government office." Her smile was back instantly, soft and calming much like Kasumi's. "Just call me Auntie."

"Of course, Auntie." Kasumi smiled once again over her shoulder to the elder woman. "Is there something I can help you with?"

Nodoka came up to Kasumi's side and helped her finish preparing lunch as she spoke. "I wanted you to know that I appreciate the work you've done around here and wanted to tell you how proud you've made me." Nodoka gave a kindly smile to Kasumi. "It must be very hard for you to take care of this house by yourself, so I wanted you to know that I will be helping you out from time to time, if not simply taking over for you when needed."

Kasumi looked at Nodoka speechlessly for a moment before going back to making riceballs. "That's very kind of you, Auntie, but you are a guest here. I wouldn't expect you to do anything of the sort."

"That's another thing I wanted to speak to you about, Kasumi." Nodoka spoke gently as she finished and took the offered towel from Kasumi, wiping her hands clean on it before hanging it back up on the rack nearby. "If it's alright with you and your father, I intend on moving in for awhile with my son."

Kasumi looked surprised at Nodoka. "If it's not too much trouble, may I ask why?" Nodoka looked over at Kasumi as they took the tray of food from the kitchen to the living room, setting out places for themselves and one for Ranma if he woke up. "You have a home and a job, wouldn't it be very inconvenient to commute to both from here?"

Nodoka nodded at Kasumi. "It will be for the first week or so, but once I explain what I plan on doing, it'll make a lot more sense." Nodoka took an offered riceball in hand and took a bite, chewing lightly and swallowing before continuing. "I'm going to be taking care of the few problems that Ranma has developed from his journey with his father, which means that I'll have to help tutor him some. Also I may have to be on hand to patch him up, and I will make sure that he is in the best of health as I can."

Kasumi nodded before a question occurred to her. "Auntie, may I ask what you do for your job?"

Nodoka smiled brightly. "I work as a nurse at Juuban Medical. I'm not totally certified to be a doctor, but I know enough to patch up minor sprains and cuts."

Kasumi smiled and nodded before frowning and tilting her head. The name of that hospital sounded familiar to her for some reason, though she didn't know why that would be.

Ranma sat up abruptly with a gasp, looking as if he had been scared awake by something. Nodoka wished there was something she could do for her son, but knew that mental scars were a lot harder to heal than the physical kind were. At least he allowed her around him, though he was still skittish of her. Kasumi moved from her seat to pat Ranma's shoulder kindly, getting him to look confused up at her before calming down.

Nodoka smiled at the two of them. It was obvious to her when she watched them how Ranma seemed to protect Kasumi, even was eager to help her. It was much the same when it came to their sparring, Ranma walking her step by step through a move so that she could learn faster and easier. It was the first actions he did for himself without having to ask anyone what they wanted of him.

She frowned at the collar that was still located around his neck. She had tried to take that off of him and had him grab hold of her hand in nearly a death grip, looking up into her face in fear. Whatever the collar represented to him, Nodoka would probably never know, but it was clear that it meant something that could stir dread in him so profound that he had almost hurt her without trying.

What she didn't mention to Kasumi and would not mention to anyone else was that she wasn't just going to help with Ranma, she was waiting for Genma. She knew her soon to be ex-husband during the time they had been together, pregnant with Ranma, and the few years till Ranma was old enough to begin his ten year long training journey. Ranma was his sure fire meal ticket, and he had dedicated ten long years of training his son in the martial arts.

She knew that he would be coming back for him soon enough, and when he came back, there would be a special to be had at the meat market when she would be finished with him.

The end of school came around eventually and Nodoka helped Kasumi out in the kitchen while Ranma and Soun sparred in the dojo, the girls either working on their homework for the time being or getting the bills caught up. The outer wall along the yard was nearly complete, paid off in full from the money that Ranma had given Nabiki control of when he handed over the bank receipt. Nabiki had tried to offer him back his receipt, but had been turned away from him, stating that he didn't have any needs and that the money should go to the household.

Nabiki would have gladly taken the money not too long ago, but Ranma had become one person she wouldn't accept handouts from and kept the money in the account. She would get it back to him when he was ready to accept ownership of it once again. Ranma assured her that he wouldn't need any money, and the subject was dropped.

Akane, for once, was quiet. She didn't glare hostility at Ranma the moment they sat down for their meal, she never said a foul word to her sisters or to Ranma, in fact, she had been on cloud nine since coming back from her jog yesterday.Nabiki was suspicious of her sister's sudden good mood, but wouldn't call her on it just yet. There was peace in the house for at least one night, and she would take all the peace that they could muster.

After dinner, Ranma and Kasumi went to the dojo to train while Nodoka handled the dishes and Nabiki watched a sit-com, her books balanced to her liking and plans for tomorrow's next day of collecting debts planned ahead of time, so she had nothing else to do. Akane had gone straight to her room with her pot bellied pig that had shown up this morning looking absolutely soaked.

Kasumi and Ranma sparred with each other, Kasumi finally getting up enough determination to practice her hand to hand combat with Ranma after her fight with Akane. She had figured in her own mind that because of the fight she had nearly lost when relying on the wooden naginata that she would need to work more on hand to hand combat and not depend on the crutch a weapon gave her. She was still better with the naginata, but she was slowly getting her hand to hand up to those same skills.

Calling their sparring off for the night, Ranma went to the roof of the house while Kasumi headed for the bathroom to clean herself of the sweat and toil of the day. He sat quietly, at peace with the world around him as he stared up at the stars until a window opened below him and a brown haired girl stuck her head out.

"Ranma, do you have a moment?" Nabiki called up to him, making Ranma blink before he made his way to the edge of the roof and flipped himself down and into the windowsill of Nabiki's room. "I wanted to go over more of those social skills I've been telling you about." Nabiki spoke gently as she sat on her bed, motioning for Ranma to come in and take a seat with her on the bed.

Ranma blinked at her and hesitated before stepping into her room and moving to her bed, sitting as far away from her as possible.

"Ranma, do you understand why I stopped you from kissing Sayuri and Yuka at school today?" Nabiki asked him, staring into his confused eyes. Getting a shake from him, she sighed and thought about how to explain this to him.

She thought back to when she had come out of the school, looking for Ranma to make sure Kuno wasn't bothering him too badly today. When she had seen Sayuri tilting her head back and reaching behind Ranma's head to pull him down into a lip lock, she had stepped in quickly to stop them. She didn't mind the dirty look she got from both of the girls, she'd deal with them later.

"When a guy and a girl kiss, it usually means that they like each other." Getting a confused look from Ranma, she tried thinking about it a different way. "Do you have something you like, Saotome?"

"Something I like?" Ranma asked, thinking for a little while.

"Something that makes you happy." Nabiki coaxed, trying to get Ranma to open up to her a little.

Ranma took a second longer to think about that before nodding.

"Is the feeling you get when you think about the thing you like the same when you are with Yuka and Sayuri?" Nabiki spoke kindly to him, scooting toward him just a little bit.

Ranma shook his head almost instantly.

"For girls and boys near the same age, kissing someone is like that feeling you have for your thing you like." Nabiki said as she compared the two for Ranma. "When two people kiss, it's saying that they like each other a lot and are showing everyone who sees them that they like each other. If you had kissed Yuka and Sayuri at lunch, that's what you would have been saying to everyone."

"So kissing someone my own age is bad." Ranma mumbled.

"Not always." Nabiki scooted closer to him as he looked confused at her. "The kind of kiss they wanted from you was the 'liking someone' kind of kiss, but there are a lot of kisses." Ranma looked at her with confusion. "I'll show you." Nabiki said as she leaned up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek.

Ranma looked a little surprised at her.

"That was a friendly kiss, something like a handshake." Nabiki explained, her cheeks slightly warming. "Normally, girls give those kinds of kisses to someone else." When Ranma nodded, she kissed him with a like brushing kiss on his lips. "That's a lot like the one on your cheek, but it usually means that the person giving it is very shy."

Ranma tilted his head to the side before nodding, as if understanding the difference. Nabiki leaned in again, this time scooting closer so she didn't have to reach so far. When her lips touched this time, Ranma's lips met hers halfway. She could feel him kissing back and the tip of his tongue brushing over the tips of her lips as she let the kiss go on and on.

She blinked once she realized that Ranma had stopped kissing her, pulling back to look at her as her face flushed crimson. "That was…" Nabiki stammered, finding it hard to slow her heart down and get her breath back. "That was…" Nabiki's eyes narrowed as a playful smirk fit on her face. "Where did you learn to kiss like that, Saotome?"

Ranma's eyes took a far off look mixed with a slight bit of hurt. "There were a lot of girls who kissed me like that when I was traveling with Otou-san." Ranma shuddered, making Nabiki sit up and look at Ranma with a carefully held stare. "They paid him money to do that and other things."

Nabiki winced, realizing she was doing something that was taking advantage of the boy. "I'm sorry, Ranma. I didn't think…about…" Nabiki knew it was just a matter of not thinking, nothing she could say to him would make it right. "If you want to go, I won't hold it against you."

Ranma reached over to her and pulled her to him, laying her head against his chest as he held her to him. She hesitated a moment before leaning into his chest and simply relaxing in his arms. She had always wondered what it would be like to be held like this by someone, yet she had never imagined that Ranma would be the one that would make her feel safe and needed. She sighed softly as she relaxed in his arms.

Her door flying open was the only warning she had as she was suddenly pushed from him back onto her bed before the meaty thwack of a mallet impacted into Ranma, blasting him out the window and off into the distance.

"You Pervert!" The outraged voice shouted out the window. "Keep your perverted hands off my sister!"

"Akane!" Nabiki shouted as she leapt from her bed, pushing the younger sister away from the window o she could try to see what happened to Ranma. Not abale to find him, she whirled on her sister, "What the hell are you doing barging into my room?!"

"Defending you since you obviously weren't doing such a good job." Akane snorted as she put away her mallet into wherever it came from.

"It's my room and I can do whatever the heck I want with whoever I want in it!" Nabiki bristled, hostility and intent to kill pouring off of her toward Akane.

"After tomorrow, you can do whatever you want." Akane snorted as she turned around and walked out the door, closing it quietly behind her.

* * *

**Wasn't that just the sweetest thing you've ever seen? Right up until the moment Mallet-sama broke up that cuddle moment. (sighs)**

**Well, Genma has made his appearance again, took him long enough to get back from China. Ryoga's also back as well, though in piglet form. Wonder if he's sleeping with Akane like before? (thinks pensively before eyes widen) I just thought of Akane in her skivvies... Someone Hand Me The Soap, My Mind is Dirty! DIRTY!!!**


	13. Father Knows Best

**Happy Belated Turkey Day to everyone! I managed to finish this not too long ago, people simply won't go home when you tell them to, especially relatives.**

**Disclaimer: As soon as I win enough money from gambling and various loans sharks, I'll be able to afford to say 'Yes, I own Ranma 1/2'. I doubt that day will ever come, but I can dream.**

**G.B.: I want to make a note right here, right now. No matter how dark I write, no matter what kind of hell I put the characters of this story through, Ranma is not going to die, commit suicide, beg to be put out of his misery, ect. Yes, his life sucks, everyone's does (unless your donald trump or bill gates) in some fashion or another. This story is not condoning taking your life, and will not have any parts of taking one's life in it. Rant over!**

* * *

His head hurt, but then again, that mallet hurt no matter how he tried to roll with the blow. He looked around at where he was at, wondering how far he had been sent away from the house. Squinting his eyes, he stared around the clearing at the wooded area he appeared to be in. The bonfire blazed in the middle of the camp that looked to have been tossed together quickly, a bedroll laid nearby to where he was tied up at…?

He tried to shift his arms as he looked down at himself. His arms were tied to his body, the ropes that wrapped around him were very tight and the rope rough against his skin. He looked around the clearing one more time, this time straining his heightened senses.

The wood smoke of the fire pit was obscuring his nose, and the light was making his vision unable to pierce the gloom around him. Touch and Taste were going to be useless to him since he couldn't see anything around him that would give him any more information about where he was with those senses. His hearing could barely hear something over the fire pit, something that was making his hair stand on end on the back of his neck.

A shadow seemed to loom over him, and he tried to turn his head around to see what it was. Something hit him in the back of his head on an edge, something that made his eyes water and his head ring like a gong. He winced with the pain, rolling onto his side as something grabbed at the back of his shirt and began to drag him off away from the fire.

Whatever had him was strong, and the fingers were very hard as they didn't bend the slightest as his body pulled at them. He head still wasn't clear yet as his eyes watered, and his hearing was still messed up as he tried to force the pain down. He was held up above the ground by one arm, and he could feel the thickly matted fur before being planted on the ground before a hole in the ground. Heavy metal cuffs slapped onto his wrists

His eyes seemed to focus themselves as he looked down into the pit as his head cleared when he felt a clawed foot press into his back, pushing him into the hole. He fell for a distance before his body impacted with the bottom of the hole, moonlight coming down for a moment as he turned over onto his knees. He looked up to the edge of the hole and he could feel his insides being wrenched from him as he saw the shadow like shape of a panda holding a sign.

_'You will learn your lesson this time'_ the sign read before a hard metallic something cut out the light and the world outside.

He struggled. Wiggling back and forth as hard as he could, he felt as the ropes slightly gave, moving upwards toward his head as he shifted and twisted back and forth, working as hard as he could go get the ropes off. Just as the first loop of rope around him began to come free, his ears pricked at something and he froze. Something that made his hackles rise and the thing inside of him raise up and rear its head as his body froze to the bone in a chill.

Genma panda rolled the boulder on top of the sliding metal door, making sure that Ranma would not bodily punch through the metal above him. He had seen Ranma revert into that feared technique, his greatest shame and the main reason why he hated Ranma the worst as the failure to the Saotome name. Saotome's were known to be innovators, masters of anything they could get their hands on in terms of martial arts techniques and created more from those self same techniques.

Ranma had failed to learn the Neko-Ken. Worse, he had turned into an insane juggernaut of blazing primal fury when presented with his one and only weakness. He was a stain on the name Anything Goes, and most importantly, he was a stain on the name Saotome.

The screaming started in the pit, and the sounds of combat began soon afterwards. Genma felt the boulder actually bounce from the blow of Ranma barreling into the bottom of the metal that was above his head and steadied the rock, making sure that it would not roll off and release his shame to the world. This time, Ranma would learn the technique, or the next time, but he would learn the technique.

He would learn it, or he would die trying.

* * *

Cologne sat down at one of the various tables in the Neko-Hanten, Mousse standing next to her shoulder and staring at a table nearby with a scowl on his face. Across the table sat a very contrite Shampoo, who could not look her great grandmother in the eye. Cologne sighed deeply before giving Shampoo her most disappointed stare along with a very angry gaze.

"Shampoo," Cologne began, watching her great granddaughter flinch as she spoke her name, "the conversation we're about to have is going to determine the type of punishment you deserve."

Nodding very quietly, Cologne watched Shampoo for a moment before continuing.

"You knew that Ranma is afraid of cats." Cologne's voice couldn't hide the disappointment she felt, and she had to take a moment before she could speak again. "You deliberately searched Ranma out in your cursed form and caused him to slip into the Neko-Ken." Cologne saw that Shampoo sat up a little straighter at this, but her gaze hardened on her, daring her to speak. "I am willing to listen to your story, but I am inclined to simply disown you for what you have done."

A panicked look crossed Shampoo's face. Being disowned from one's family was the greatest of punishments in the amazon village. Not only were you seen to be a great disgrace, but you basically an outcast from the rest of the village in name if not in deed.

"Great grandmother," Shampoo began in her original language, which earned her a hostile stare, but she continued to speak none the less, "When I returned back to Nerima, I was not in my cursed form, and even up to the time when I arrived at the house that Air…I mean, Ranma dwells at, I was still in my uncursed form."

Cologne, for lack of a better word for it, didn't believe her great granddaughter and let it be known in the skeptical glare she was handing out. "Why was it that Mousse arrived here in his own cursed form then."

Shampoo gave the myopic Mousse a heated glare. "When we arrived on the boat from our homeland, Mousse attempted to stop me physically my grabbing hold of my body in very inappropriate ways."

Translation: She was Amazon Glomped.

"I defended myself from him in the way that all warriors of our tribe have been educated in when men become too possessive and overstep their bounds."

Translation: She knocked him into the ocean with one of her bonbori.

Cologne gave Mousse a suspicious look which did nothing to the myopic boy since he was facing away from the table.

"I made my way to where Air…Ranma lived as fast as I could, hoping to see him once again." Shampoo said as her face clouded over. "When I saw him in the middle of a fight with the short one with much temper, I tried to throw myself under him before he was slammed bodily into the ground. I did manage to get under him, but had I known we would have both been thrown into the pond in the yard, I would not have tried."

Shampoo's face did look greatly ashamed as she continued. "When I woke up from being knocked unconscious, I was too afraid to let go as he tore through everything in front of him."

Cologne gave Shampoo a considering look. "I had wondered exactly why Ranma did not change into his female form after seeing him laying in the dried out pond like he was. You still should not have gone to him first instead of coming straight to me."

Shampoo dropped her eyes to the tabletop. "I understand, great grandmother."

Cologne held her stern, yet disappointed gaze at Shampoo for a bit longer before sighing. "Your punishment is for you to work here at the Cat Café, and to not follow Ranma for any reason unless I tell you so. You are also not allowed to practice Wu Shu for one full month, and I refuse to teach you anything for another month after that."

For an amazon warrior, this was a harsh punishment in and of itself. If under the circumstances that an amazon under this punishment were to be challenged, it would be considered an automatic loss and they would have to give the kiss of marriage or death to the person who had challenged them. Warriors were thus supposed to have better control over themselves so that they would not be punished as harshly as Shampoo had just been.

"Great grandmother." Shampoo spoke softly, getting Cologne to look at her. She kept her eyes down at the table as she spoke. "When I tried to save Air…Ranma, I was knocked unconscious before I was turned into my cursed form." Cologne's eyes narrowed at Shampoo as she continued. "Does that not mean that I was defeated by a male?"

Cologne studied Shampoo for a full minute before she answered her. "If Ranma was a normal person and not the mess of a human being that he is right now, I would say yes." Shampoo's face seemed to light up slightly before Cologne cut her off. "However, he is not only a broken person psychologically, he s a catastrophe waiting to happen. Until his problems can be rectified, he is not to be given the Kiss of Marriage. Am I understood, Xian Pu?"

"Yes, Great Grandmother." Shampoo's head dipped, a sad grimace marring her features.

Cologne nodded to Shampoo before turning to Mousse and bopped him in the head. Mousse turned around and shot a glare at Cologne that only made her stare at the boy as if wondering if he was sane or not. "Our discussion is over. Take Shampoo upstairs and show her to her room. Her room, Mousse."

Mousse wiped the smile off of his face before bowing to Cologne and walking towards the stairs. Shampoo stood up and bowed to her great grandmother before walking off after Mousse with a grimace. Cologne watched her go before reaching under her robes and pulling out a small fist sized pearl that was slightly pink in color.

"Genma will be coming back soon for his son." Cologne muttered to herself. "Hopefully, he will never get the Phoenix pill." She slid the 'pearl' back under her robes before chuckling to herself. "Serves him right for eating that sterilizer I had made to look like the Phoenix pill. He shouldn't be allowed to have children anyways."

* * *

Nabiki was up earlier than she had ever been. She was downstairs and talking with Kasumi early in the morning as Kasumi made the lunches for Akane and her.

"She knocked him out of my window and he didn't come back last night." Nabiki spoke darkly under her breath to Kasumi, who was just putting the lid down on the first bento.

"Do you think he's alright?" Kasumi asked, concern laced her voice.

"Honestly?" Nabiki shrugged her shoulders. "He's gone through so much that I doubt we're ever shown that he's hurt. Watching his mother patch him up, he didn't even wince once as she used the antiseptic on his cuts or when she tighten the bandages to him."

Kasumi sighed. Of all the things Akane could have done, she had to mallet Ranma out of Nabiki's room and off to Kami knew where.

"Sis." Nabiki broke Kasumi out of her thoughts, as Kasumi turned to look at her in the eye. "I'm going to start treating Akane like a regular person, not as our sister."

Kasumi stopped making the second bento. She turned to look at her sister with a mild sadness on her face. "Isn't that a bit harsh?" She asked Nabiki. "You know she doesn't talk to us about her problems. Would ostracizing her really be a good idea?"

Nabiki narrowed her eyes at Kasumi. "She charged into my room last night and used that oversized hammer to belt Ranma out the window to Kami knows where, which I might add, he never returned home from." Kasumi frowned. "She almost hurt you in a sparring match, whether you believe me or not, and she tried killing Ranma at least once. She needs help, not coddling."

Kasumi continued to frown for awhile before turning back to the second bento. She started to finish it as she spoke. "Do you what you think you must, but I still think this is a bad idea."

Nodoka walked into the kitchen at that moment, looking from Nabiki to Kasumi and back again. "Am I interrupting something private?" She asked, noticing the looks being passed between one sister and the other.

Kasumi's smile immediately graced her features. "Of course not, Auntie. Please, come in and help me out with breakfast, if it's not too much trouble." Nabiki watched as the two women got to work in their craft, conversation briefly glancing over Ranma from time to time. Shaking her head at her sister's soft heartedness, she headed back up to her room to prepare for the rest of the day.

Breakfast was a quick affair, Nabiki finished long before Akane came downstairs and headed to school saying she had a few things to arrange. Akane came down with an uncaring gaze, barely talking to anyone unless asked how she was and what she planned on doing today. She gave Kasumi a frosty gaze when she handed Akane her bento before heading off to school.

Kasumi frowned as she watched Akane off, wondering if there could be anything done for Akane, and wondering if Ranma was alright.

* * *

School ended without any sign of Ranma, which made Nabiki edgy. Akane didn't seem to be worried about the boy martial artist, though she did seem to be happier as the day went on. Going home found that Ranma had not returned all day, nor had he called or sent a letter explaining where he was at. The longer the day went on, the worse of a feeling she got.

Dinner went past with the only thing that happened was Akane returning from wherever she had gone to with a scowl on her face. Mumbling something under her breath along the lines of "not being able to find him" and "training spot close by", Nabiki became very worried and highly suspicious.

Calls went out after dinner to everyone she could think of on any information of a rogue panda that may have been seen in the streets. Getting a few confused and doubting voices back, she decided to drop the panda identification and simply asked about any known thefts involving food. This seemed to be a better question when she heard about a rash of food thefts and dine and dash incidents involving a panda of all things stealing everything under the sun, but mostly sake.

Calling the police and informing them that they were looking for a man by the name of Genma Saotome who had most likely kidnapped his abused son, Nabiki called information and made a phone cal that would get her more results than the police would be.

"Thank you for calling the NekoHanten." The aged voice of Cologne spoke over the receiver. "Would you like to make a reservation?"

Nbaiki bit her lip. Involving the amazons may not be the best thing for her to do, but she didn't know anyone else who could help her out. "Elder Cologne, this is Nabiki Tendo."

"Ah, Miss Tendo." Cologne's voice sounded intrigued. "Are you calling to make a reservation?"

"Actually, I'm calling about a business proposition." Nabiki winced as old habits jumped to the fore in her mind. "I found some information out that I am fairly sure you would like to know about."

There was a moment's pause on the phone before Cologne spoke again. "What kind of proposition did you have in mind, child?"

"Ranma's missing. I know that in itself doesn't mean much to you and you've had enough trouble with him and your great granddaughter, but I heard through my people that a dine and dash person was seen in the northern parts of Nerima over the last few days." Nabiki didn't want to give away too much information, but she didn't have much choice about it.

Again, there was a moment's pause where the phone was simply silent. "You think Ranma's father has him?" Cologne spoke with certainty, her voice becoming hard.

"I don't want to think the worse, elder, but I haven't seen him in twenty four hours." Nabiki started to fiddle with the phone cord as her nerves became frayed.

"You did the right thing calling me." Cologne reassured over the phone. "If indeed the boy's father has come back for him, then we must find him before he can escape us once again. You have done me a great service, Nabiki Tendo."

The phone went dead within seconds and Nabiki looked at the receiver with a frown before hanging it back up. She turned around to the sight of Nodoka Saotome surrounded by a flaming battle aura, stray wisps of hair whipping in a wind that wasn't there. Katana held in a death grip, Nodoka glared hot blazing death at Nabiki.

"Genma has my son?" Nodoka barely whispered, sending a chill down Nabiki's back.

"I don't know, Aunt Nodoka." Nabiki was sweating from the pressure coming from the woman. "Ranma never came home and I heard that Genma had been seen in the northern parts of Nerima."

The sheath of the katana audibly creaked in her one handed grip as she walked passed Nabiki to the front door and stepped outside. Nabiki watched her as she walked to the gate at the outer wall and walked out that one in complete silence. The light of her battle aura followed her down the street as night began to take hold of Nerima.

"Hey, Nabiki." Akane's voice called from behind her, bringing her attention back around to her. "Where's Mrs. Saotome going?" Nabiki raised her hand up in front of herself, palm up. Akane looked from the hand to her sister's face. "Very funny, Nabiki, now where's she going?"

"Five Thousand yen." Nabiki spoke, business mode turned fully on.

Again, Akane looked dumbly down at the palm in front of her. "You're serious." She spoke, the comment clearly not a question.

"You want information, you get it the same way everyone else gets it." Nabiki spoke calmly and evenly, watching her sister's face slip into something familiar, irritation.

"I could simply follow her, ya know." Akane spoke as she crossed her arms in front of herself.

Nabiki stepped out of her sister's way. "By all means, I'm certainly not trying to stop you."

Akane stared at her with an unreadable look on her face before she reached for her shoes on the rack and rushed outside after Nodoka. Nabiki watched Akane disappear out the gate before turning around and scratching at her hair absently. Shaking her head, she headed upstairs to balance the books once more, hoping that her gut was wrong this time.

* * *

He scratched his gut as he leaned back, enjoying the firelight that was coming from the campfire in front of him as he polished off another bottle of sake. Nothing went down so good as free food and drink, well, maybe a few things were better than free food and drink, but his wife wasn't being very accommodating. He remembered the times that Nodoka would lay in bed with him, their moments of marital bliss all too short when their child was brought into the world.

He had been so proud then, to be given a son by Kami. It was almost as if the gods were smiling down on him and blessing him with an heir that would take up the mantle of Saotome and raise the name to legendary heights in the martial arts world. The kid had shown so much promise too, even willing coming in with him and learning the basic katas from him by simply watching him repeat them over and over again as he reached for perfection.

It only hurt the more when the boy's eyes started wandering on their training journey to the okonomiyaki brat. Betrayal, that's what it was. He was supposed to have attention for martial arts and nothing else, and he was playing with the girl instead of training. They had to be separated, for the boy's own good of course, and his training had to be stepped up to accommodate for his wandering eyes.

The Neko-Ken was the start of his failures. Right after leaving the girl and using up all the supplies the old man who used to own the cart had laden it with, Genma had stumbled across the ultimate training guide to create the most powerful warrior. It was unfortunate that he was well beyond the age requirement to learn the technique, but that didn't mean that his heir couldn't learn it.

He had followed the instructions to the letter, digging the pit and capturing as many of the locals pets as he could to fill the pit with the furry things before baiting his son and tossing him in. The screams broke his heart when they started, and no amount of shouting down into the pit that this was for his own good or taunting him how much of a girl he was to scream over a few scratches did anything to quiet him in the least. His son couldn't take a little pain, he was already showing signs of weakness his wife had managed to instill in him before he could begin his training.

When he had managed to get the boy out of the pit of cats, he had berated him until he realized that the boy was unconscious. Beating him awake, he started over again, only this time hitting him to emphasize a few points when the boy looked like he was trying to pass out on him again. This time fashioning a lid for the pit to block out the screams, he tossed the boy back in and repeated.

Two weeks of futile training and the boy never learned the Neko-Ken. If it had been him, he would have learned it in five days, no, three days. They had wasted so much time in an art his son was too weak to learn, and it shamed him even more when his son took just as long to heal before they could move on and continue his training.

Failure and disappointment seemed to be the boy's only skills as they continued. They had moved from place to place, temple to temple, town to town looking for anyone that could teach the boy any new skills, finding a rare few that could teach him anything, and when they couldn't learn anything, he would use his son as a decoy as he stole the required food and money they needed to keep moving on their journey.

Until they had come to that one village deep in the wilderness. Genma had gathered enough supplies to last them for a few days until they could get to the next town, throwing the boy over his shoulder to slow the villagers down as only a distraction could be used for. He waited until he had nearly gone through all the supplies before going off to find his failure of a child.

The villagers had him surrounded as he was lifted from their midst by his neck, a rope tied off around his throat as the people screamed their anger at the boy who had allowed such a criminal to go free. He had watched them for a time till the boy's kicking started to weaken, his hands tied behind his back unable to do anything but struggle vainly as the air was slowly starved from him.

It was almost too perfect. If the boy died during his training journey, he could finally go home and start again with Nodoka, fathering a new child, a better child that would be the height of the Saotome line, and not the failure that Ranma had turned into. Before he could imagine what kind of greatness this new child would bring, he suddenly remembered the seppuku pledge his wife had sworn him to, and having no choice but to rescue his failure of a child, he unleashed his forbidden techniques.

The boy had been near dead and took a while to recover from something as minor as asphyxiation, another mark against him in how shameful he was becoming. Genma shook his furry head back and forth as he cast off the past and looked over at the boulder that still covered the door and the pit. It was a waste of time retraining Ranma, he had only now come to realize, and with that realization came another.

Nodoka was never going to have another child with him. He had held out hopes that the woman he loved would come to see his way of thinking and bear him a true heir to the Anything Goes, but that was a pipe dream. It would be a shame to lose her, but he had loved her once, and lost her to his failure of a child by her. Maybe it had been Nodoka's ancestry that had been the failing point with her family's sword style?

Genma's ear twitched as nature seemed to go quiet around him. Hackles raised as a danger sense rushed through him, he leapt to his feet and looked around the small clearing for any signs that he had been found. He gave a cursory glance to the boulder sitting on the cover, wondering if anyone had heard the boy screaming his failures and giving away their hidden camp.

Metal chains whipped out of the canopy of the forest as Genma jumped and back flipped away from the attack, avoiding the ensnaring coils of metal and immediately ricocheting off a tree trunk to avoid the bonbori that launched itself from his left and killed the tree.

Genma had to lean back almost impossibly far to evade the staff of wood that had nearly speared him in the air. Flipping backwards to land on his feet, he quickly turned and faced the gnarled troll that was the amazon elder that had followed him back to Japan.

"So, Genma Saotome, we have found you at last." Cologne's eyes were narrowed in disgust at the panda that had evaded them for so long.

Genma reached behind himself and pulled out one of his ever ready signs. 'Fix me, woman' the sign read as Genma's eyes narrowed in hatred at the diminutive woman balanced on the top of her cane.

"I think not, fool." Cologne said firmly. "You deserve to be an animal for what you did to your child."

'He was too weak to be trained' Genma's sign read as he watched the lavender haired girl land near the old woman, and a boy in white robes and glasses thick enough to be mistaken for magnifying lenses joined her behind the elder.

"Anyone could train him better than what you did." Cologne spat in the direction of Genma. "You are a fool for ruining a warrior."

'Take the boy, then' Genma's sign flipped, 'I'll simply have another'.

Cologne's Cheshire grin sent a cold chill down his hairy back. "You will try and fail, as you did with your son.' Cologne spoke, before she pulled out a pinkish pearl from her robes and held it up in the air. "You'll get no one unless you can find someone who will love an animal, and even then, the sterility pill you took back at the village will prevent you from ever having children again."

Genma froze as his eyes widened.

"You realized it wasn't the real phoenix pill by now, but I thought I'd leave you a surprise if you tried breaking into some place you didn't deserve." Cologne cackled darkly at the frozen Genma. "Writing a letter and sending it ahead of us was easy enough, and the herbalist was kind enough to create a sterile pill which we use on the men when we want to keep the population down."

Genma's paw swept forward in an arcing motion and a distortion leapt from his claws. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Cologne pushed Shampoo and Mousse out of the way of the wave before jumping out of the way herself, the bottom part of her cane touching it before falling away with a clean cut.

She cursed at her lack of foresight and cursed even more when she realized she had dropped the pill. Getting back onto her feet, she leveled her staff as best as she could before turning and using her weapon in a blurring motion around the approaching panda. He used his arms to block the majority of rapid fire attacks that seemed to blur around him before he gave a short jump into the air and subsequently disappeared.

Cologne jumped back and threw out her senses for the fat fool, sweeping her eyes around the area for the elusive panda. She never sensed his ki building up to use the two techniques, and yet somehow he had vanished without a trace or a trail for them to follow. The attack that struck her from behind caught her unaware and she rolled with it, lashing out with her cane to try and hit whoever had struck her only to miss.

Genma was still around and was masking himself, which wasn't supposed to be possible. No one in their cursed forms from Jusenkyo were supposed to be able to use their martial arts skills while cursed. Glancing around at Shampoo and Mousse who were looking around just as much as she was, she realized that the phoenix pill was still laying on the ground.

Just as she remembered that, she saw the panda drop whatever technique he was using and swipe the pill up off the ground. She reacted to the action, lashing out with her staff to jab at the ground at the panda's feet with her staff and shooting a burst of ki down it into the ground. The ground erupted violently underneath the panda, causing him to fly up into the air and backwards as the ground blew up.

Rolling with the explosion, Genma lashed his two hands forward in the same arcing motion and two disturbances raced forward, cutting through chunks of earth as if they were wet tissue paper as they came at her. She had to jump away to avoid them as they punched into the ground where she had been moments before.

Shampoo rushed over and tried to snap the Phoenix pill out of the air only to have the panda intercept her. Claws hands and bonbori blurred as they exchanged attacks with each other as the pill came down toward the both of them. With a maneuver, Genma's clawed arm punched through the ball end of the weapon and continued for Shampoo's chest much to her surprise.

Cologne managed to knock Shampoo out of the way of the deadly attack, the bonbori's metal mace head punched cleanly through with little resistance. Ripping the weapon from his furry arm, Genma reached with his other paw as he tried to catch the pill before he was wrapped in chains. The pill bobbled on the ends of his clawed fingers before he managed to knock it back up into the air and away from the rising Cologne.

Grabbing hold of the chains wrapping him with the only arm he had loose, Genma wrenched the boy attached to them into the air and into Cologne as she tried to jump up and grab the pill while Genma was distracted. Mousse let his chains go loose from the impact with the aged matriarch and Genma jumped into the air to get the pill unopposed.

He had to dodge in midair as a metal umbrella spun past him, arching up before spinning back his direction and making him dodge once again.

Looking over to his left, Genma spotted a boy in a yellow bandana that was beginning to take a few from his forehead, snapping them into rigid forms while he caught the metal umbrella one handed. "Genma Saotome, Prepare to Die!"

Flicking his paw at the boy as he turned away, he turned his eyes back to the pill that was about to fall on top of him. The distortion of air ripped through the flung bandanas before cutting into the umbrella Ryoga tried to use to protect himself, managing only to nudge the distortion above him and away as it cut cleanly through a tree.

Victory was in hand as the pill fell into his outstretched paw and raised it to his face in a swift motion. The sudden air pressure attack that blew him off his feet and into a tree spoke differently as he saw stars dancing in front of him.

He sound of a sword being sheathed brought eyes around to Nodoka as she stepped into the clearing, battle aura flaring bright as the sun as she glared hot, painful death toward Genma. "I've found you at last, husband." Nodoka's voice hissed as she tightened her grip on the hilt of her family's katana.

Akane walked into the clearing behind Nodoka, looking confused as she looked around the clearing at everyone before returning her gaze back to Nodoka stalking toward the dazed panda.

"We shall have a settling between us, Genma Saotome." Nodoka shifted her right foot forward in front of herself as she slightly bent her knees, katana held at her hip and behind her as she kept her hand on the hilt. "You have a pledge to honor with me."

Genma's eyes seemed to focus on Nodoka, sweat somehow materializing on his face as he pushed himself upright against the tree. 'No-chan, I can explain' Genma's sign read before the sound of wood being cleaved into two pieces sang out followed closely by the sheathing of a katana. Genma's sign fell to the ground cut off at the handle just above his paw.

"Give your explanations to Shinigami when you meet him." Nodoka hissed, battle aura raging as her foot twitched toward Genma.

Seeing no hope of talking to his wife without losing his head, Genma did the only thing his training taught him to do in this kind of situation. His hand whipped out toward Nodoka even as he dodged the counter attack, sword strike gouging wood even as he fled for his life, Nodoka in hot pursuit as she shouted out curses after him.

Akane watched as the distortion ripped past Nodoka and headed right for her. Unable to move she watched it coming right up to her before she was barreled off her feet by something. Looking up, she saw Ryoga looking past at the distortion as it continued for another five feet before disappearing altogether.

"Get off me!" Akane shouted, pushing Ryoga up and off of her with a shove before getting to her feet and blushing profusely.

"I'm sorry!" Ryoga nearly shouted, bowing before Akane with his own blush on his face.

Akane snorted unladylike, though her blush increased a little more.

"Great Grandma, Where Air…Ranma?" Cologne eyed Shampoo at her near verbal slip again.

"I suspect under there." Cologne said as she hopped over to the boulder. "Everyone, get behind something." She called out and waited for them to move out of the way before she reached up and tapped the boulder with her finger.

The boulder cracked visibly before blowing outward into a million pieces, scattering around the clearing and bouncing off of everything before the dust settled and exposed the metal door underneath covered with pebbled and dirt. Jumping down from her cane, she pushed the door back with her cane.

The smell that hit her in the face was coppery and foul. A few weak sounds could be heard from the bottom that was obscured in darkness, though not many of them sounded very strong. Shampoo walked up next to her and sniffed before wrinkling her nose. Cologne hopped into the hole and a few noises of cats hissing and yowling shrilly for a few moments before Cologne brought a bloodied body back up with her from the pit.

Mousse stepped over to help Shampoo pull back the body as Cologne began to check the wounds carefully and checked to make sure he was still alive. With his chest rising and falling weakly, Ranma blearily opened his left eye and peered at those who stood around him. Ryoga walked into his field of vision, looking physically ill while Akane stepped up just behind him, frowning down at him.

"Ranma." Cologne called to him gently as she ripped her sleeves to wipe some of the blood from his face. "You're going to be alright. You're among friends now."

Ranma closed his eye and settled back, his body shivering in quick jerks as he silently cried to himself. Looking up at Shampoo Cologne spoke to her. "Take him some place where they can heal him. I will go and help his mother." Cologne turned and jumped off into the woods, in hot pursuit of Nodoka and Genma.

"I'll take you to a police station, from there, we can get an ambulance." Akane spoke softly, getting a quick nod from Shampoo as she picked Ranma up into her arms and cradled his bloody form against her.

Leaving the pit behind them, they took Ranma as fast as they could from the camp.

* * *

She sat with him, the only one allowed in to his room of the friends that had come along with her. Mentioning that she was one of the few family members he had, she wasn't able to help them out with blood types or previous medical history, but she could tell them who his parents were and where they were at.

Akane stared at him without thinking, her mind on autopilot as she watched the heart monitor beeping out a steady rhythm while the ventilator they had hooked him up to helped him breathe.

She had never seen anything like what Ranma had gone through, she hadn't even heard of someone going through this for their art. Watching the bandaged boy simply lay there with stained wrappings covering his arms and face, she wondered if he was as bad as she had always assumed he was.

She thought of Ryoga who had saved her from whatever that had been that Mr. Saotome had thrown. She had seen it when it had ripped the upper half of Ryoga's umbrella off and into the tree behind him, and she didn't want to know what would have happened if she had been hit with it. He had tried being nice to her before and she had snapped at him hard enough to bite his head off the first time she met him.

She sighed to herself at all the mistakes she'd made. She had a lot to make up for, the least of which was sitting in front of her. She had been so wrong to trust Mr. Saotome.

She thought back to the time when her mother had been sick and she had been unable to unload herself of all the anger she had at the boys at school who had picked on her. Her father had been training the students in the dojo and barely had time to listen, Kasumi had a rough time of it at her own school, her friends wanting her to go out with them instead of staying home and taking care of the house her mother wasn't able to do. Even Nabiki couldn't spare the time to help out or at least listen as she took care of the bills that came in. She couldn't put her name to any of them just yet, but she was learning how to figure what they needed and how much they could afford to spend.

After having her mother die, she didn't have anyone. Her father stopped teaching altogether, locking himself in his room and crying all day and night. Kasumi nearly had to quit school to pick up everything around the house, while Nabiki had to forge their father's signature to the checks so that the bills could get paid. No one had time to talk, and especially, no one had time to comfort.

She had nothing but her martial arts to throw herself into, and she did it gladly to get away from the pain she felt. She learned to punch hard and disable quickly, she learned to dodge incoming attacks and stop others, and she learned to fight instead of complain. The boys wouldn't stand up to her and tease her anymore, she'd make them all pay.

She was broken from her thoughts when the door to the room opened up and her family walked in. She stood up from the chair as Kasumi came up to the bed with a heart broken face, Nabiki stood next to her father, glancing over at Ranma from time to time as Soun looked his daughter up and down.

"Shampoo and Ryoga told us what happened." Soun spoke quietly, glancing at Ranma on the bed. "Are you alright, Akane?"

Akane fidgeted in place and nodded, eyes on the floor in front of herself. "Has anyone seen Aunt Nodoka?" she asked, her voice unusually quiet.

Nabiki shook her head as Soun walked over to Kasumi. "There are police and locals combing the woods for anything, but so far…" Nabiki shrugged as if that was answer enough. "They did find the campsite though, and what was left in the pit."

Soun looked down at the bandaged boy, wondering how he survived in that pit for twenty four hours before turning to Akane. "We need to talk to the detectives outside, Akane. They want to get your statement as well."

Akane stepped toward the door, Soun falling into step behind her. As she opened to door out into the hallway, she turned around. "Dad?" Akane looked up at him with hurt filled eyes.

"Yes, Akane?" Soun asked her, looking at her with a worried eye.

Akane bit her lip before looking down at the floor. "Do you think..." Her voice dimmed out before she looked up at her father. "Do you think you could teach me?" Soun gave her a confused look. "Your new martial arts?"

Soun smiled gently to his daughter and mussed her hair with a hand. "I'd be glad to." They walked out of the room, letting the door swing shut behind her.

Nabiki watched the door for a few minutes longer before turning to Ranma and Kasumi. Kasumi had sat down in the only chair in the room, holding Ranma's hand in her own as she gazed up at his face. Nabiki moved to the other side of the bed and looked down at the bandaged Ranma, trying hard not to show her own worried face.

They didn't know how long time passed before Cologne and Nodoka came into the room, Kasumi making room for Nodoka to sit down as she walked around the bed to stand next to her sister. The doctor walked in right behind them, talking to Nodoka.

"He's got a lot of superficial wounds, some bite marks, and he was dehydrated." The female doctor, Dr. Mizuno, said as she wrote on his medical chart before looking at the mother. "You say your husband did this to him?"

"Ex-husband." Nodoka calmly spoke as she stroked Ranma's brow, smoothing his hair out.

Dr. Mizuno shook her head as she wrote a little bit more on the medical chart. "I'd like to keep him for a week to observe him and maybe schedule something for mental anguish, but because I'm a doctor and not a psychologist, I can't really order something like that."

Nodoka didn't respond and Cologne simply balanced on her staff quietly, watching the scene play out before her from the corner of the room.

Shaking her head, Dr. Mizuno muttered something about her daughter under her breath. "I would suggest that you leave him to rest, but I will allow you an extra half hour before asking you all to leave." Dr. Mizuno hung up the medical chart at the foot of his bed and nodded to the two young girls on the side of the bed before walking out of the room and heading to her next patient.

Both Kasumi and Nabiki waited for a few seconds after the door had swung shut before either of them spoke. "Did you catch up to him?" Nabiki asked, hoping beyond hope that one of them had managed to get their hands on the fat panda.

"For a man, he knows how to run away." Cologne muttered aloud, answering Nabiki's question indirectly.

"Is there nothing we can do to protect Ranma from his father?" Kasumi asked, watching Nodoka's hand on Ranma's brow.

"Unfortunately, we can't be around Ranma at all times to ensure his protection." Nodoka doubted they would be able to protect Ranma from Genma in the first place, but didn't want them to worry worse than what they already were.

"I will be taking Ranma aside from his training at the Tendo Dojo and will begin teaching him a speed technique that will allow him to be able to avoid his father's attempts on subduing him." Cologne spoke clearly as she pogoed up to the bed. "It's a Chinese amazon technique and not to be let out of the village, but I think I can make an exception just this once."

"It's unfortunate that you won't be able to toughen him up as well." Nodoka spoke quietly, barely paying attention to the conversation in the room.

"I could teach him something like that." Cologne spoke hesitantly. "The problem would be how I would have to go about teaching him. The technique itself is guaranteed to make him physically stronger and less likely to take stray wounds, but the pain one has to go through to get to that point is not something I would think young Ranma would be able to endure without becoming worse off."

"Will the speed training hurt him?" Nabiki asked before Kasumi, who closed her mouth with a moment's hesitance before waiting for Cologne to speak.

"The point behind the speed training is to develop a fast enough hand to be untouched." Cologne instructed as she looked at Ranma through slitted eyes. "I will give him the opportunity to learn it and will not force him to learn it, but it will be a fine line between allowing him to and forcing him not to."

Kasumi tilted her head in confusion. "I don't understand, Elder. Wouldn't the point be to allow Ranma to quit if he so wished?"

"The problem would be that Ranma wouldn't quit once he was told to do something." Cologne glanced over Nabiki and Kasumi. "His father made him do everything he wanted for ten years, and didn't give him a choice. By giving him a choice now, it's like he never had a choice to begin with. He'd go and do exactly what you wanted him to do whether you offered for him to quit or not."

Nabiki frowned at Ranma. She knew that was going to be a problem with him. He simply didn't have a spine worth mentioning unless it was for someone else's protection, like when Kuno at school tried to attack her and he would intercept the attack. If Kuno were to attack him straight out, he would probably take the hit and move on, but as long as it was her…

She had been doing so well with making him understand people too. Now with this screw up, he was set back almost all the way to square one. He'd remember the lessons, there was nothing wrong with his memory, it would simply be reinforcing him all over again, and that was going to be tougher than she could imagine.

Kasumi sadly looked at Ranma, wondering if there was anything she was going to be able to do for him. He had been such a nice boy around the house, helping her out when she needed it, or going out to get supplies when things were running short, and now this. He had spoken quietly at first, but she had come to enjoy his voice and the things he would ask her. It wasn't the question themselves that she enjoyed of him, but the way his voice seemed to call to her.

Maybe he wasn't as much of a boy as she first thought. He was definitely fit, and he had been more responsible than most people his age. He had also lived hard, far harder than a person is meant to live. He had even went and protected her from her past, destroying her hurt and sending the man in question who did it to her into the hospital.

Now he was laid up in bed after being tortured with that dreaded technique all over again, and she couldn't do anything but sit here and watch him sleep. She was afraid that his father was going to come for him some time in the night, that Genma would find a way to sneak in and dig a hole right in the floor of this very room and toss Ranma into it, only this time, he wouldn't come out of it.

"Aunt Nodoka." Kasumi's voice leapt from her lips in fear as Nodoka looked up at her. "Is it really going to be safe here? Wouldn't it be better to take him home?"

Nodoka wistfully smiled at Kasumi before shaking her head. "If only we could, Kasumi." Nodoka looked at Ranma while he slept, the hissing of the ventilator scratching at their ears.

"We should all go home and return as soon as we can in the morning." Cologne said as she turned on the cane and pogoed to the door. Nabiki glanced from Ranma to Cologne, fighting with herself internally.

"I will be staying, Elder." Nodoka spoke calmly, but firmly. "A doctor may advise that I will have to leave, but I cannot be made to leave my son's bedside unless I don't wish it. Only my son can ask me to step out of his room, and I will not leave him vulnerable in his moment of weakness."

Cologne glanced over her shoulder with a sly grin before nodding. "Come, children. Let's leave a mother and her son in peace."

Kasumi bowed to Nodoka before turning to follow Cologne, if hesitantly. Nabiki simply inclined her head before following her sister out. Nodoka pushed her chair back against the wall and drew her weapon free from its sheath, placing the sheath over her lap while she held the weapon in her hand. Settling into the chair, she stared at the door for a moment before breathing slowly and closing her eyes.

"No one will take my son away from me." Nodoka hissed with barely contained fury as she settled in for the night.

* * *

**Look! Look! No Psycho Akane or Manipulating Shampoo! It also explains why Ranma didn't change when he got thrown into the koi pond. I'm kinda sad to say that no one picked up that little thing and took it on faith that Ranma seemed to simply avoid the change or somehow control it. Anyways, Akane has shown a bit of her past with a bit of her inner monologue and Shampoo has explained herself, plus Ranma is going to begin the training from Cologne.**

**Shout out to all of you who called me on a few things that didn't get explained or found a spelling mistake. I also wish to bow and prostrate myself before all of you in worship. You guys keep me writing.**


	14. Amazon Training

**I'm sorry for taking so long for getting this chapter out. I started writing a Naruto story so I will be cutting my time in between this story and that one from now on, somehting that I don't normally do. Now I can be twice as lazy and half as productive! WooHoo!**

**Disclaimer: Now only do I not own Naruto or Ranma, I don't even own the computer this story was written on.**

* * *

His mother was asleep in her chair, her family sword drawn and resting across the arms of the chair she was sitting in. It was quiet in the hospital, the door was closed and all of the hospital noise was barely filtering into the room. The light from the window could barely get past the curtains, which his eyes was thankful for.

The door opened and the sound from the hallway briefly made Nodoka twitch in her seat, her hand gripping the hilt of her sword tighter. Ranma's eyes latched onto the form that had walked into the room and waited for whoever it was to walk closer so his eyes would focus.

A young girl came into view that reminded him of Akane, though she didn't hold herself in as confident a way as the youngest Tendo. Hair cut short and dark in the shadowed room, her blue eyes seemed to look around the room before they found their way to him in the bed. She held herself as if unsure of who she was, but Ranma could sense a power behind her that she didn't show anyone else.

She stopped short, trapped in his own gaze, their eyes speaking to each other in a way Ranma found disturbing. "I'm sorry." Her voice was soft, hesitant. "I was looking for my mother and thought she had made it this far on her rounds."

Ranma tilted his head to the side, listening to how her voice seemed to reverberate in the room, soothing his mind and his soul. His eyes remained on her and she shuddered, making him feel guilty.

"I'm sorry to have bothered you." The girl said as she bowed to him just as the door to the room opened and a shadowed body stood in the doorway.

"Ah, there you are." A middle aged voice called happily from the doorway, bringing Ami up and turning to the person. Her eyes held a bit of fear as Ranma's hair stood up on end in agitation. "Your mother was worried about you. She sent me to look for you."

"I'm sorry to trouble you." Again the girl bowed, this time to the man in the doorway. "I was just looking for mom."

The man stepped into the room and Ranma tried to turn his head to see the person who was coming in. "It's quite alright. She knows you have a desire for medicine, but you shouldn't bother the patients. They are trying to…?"

Ranma's eyes narrowed as Tofu walked into view. He held very still, waiting for the man to make a move on him.

"Ara? Ranma-kun, is that you?" Tofu asked as he tried to stand next to the girl, only to have her take a step to the side from him. "What happened to you? You look like you got caught by a wood chipper."

The girl looked back at Ranma before glancing at Tofu. "You know him, doctor?"

Tofu blinked, as if coming out of a daze. "Oh, yes. I know Ranma very well." Tofu's smile didn't convince Ranma in the least, though it was meant to put him at ease. "He moved in with a family I took care of medically when my small practice was still up."

Ranma knew that had been an accusation pointed at him. Tofu had nearly been killed by him the first time so he had no doubts as to who had taken out where he practiced medicine at. He eyed Ranma with a definite intent on hurting the boy in front of him for a moment before his eyes conveyed concern when he turned toward the girl.

"I'm afraid we can't stay any longer, Ami-chan. Your mother is waiting for us." He slipped his arm around Ami's as she shuddered uncontrollably before guiding her to the door.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Ranma-san." The girl called to him weakly, her eyes conveying the need for help as Tofu guided her out into the hallway. Tofu happened to glance back into the room with a hostile smile before the door closed behind him.

Hatred roiled through Ranma. He had hated a long time ago, when his father had begun his training, he had even resented his father when he ad starved or had been made to practice when he had a broken bone. Hat had died out when he realized he couldn't escape his father, he had nowhere to go and no place to get away to. Only now when he had a place he was welcomed could he begin to hate again, and Tofu was going to feel his hate.

"Mother." Ranma's voice barely uttered, his mother shifting, but not waking up. He cleared his voice and called again.

Nodoka's eyes snapped open and her arms flexed as she almost swung her katana from where she sat. The hostile air in the room was making her danger sense scream at her, and yet she had slept through whatever it was that had set it off. She had gotten rusty, no two ways about it. Was her son alright?

"Ranma, Are you ok?" Nodoka stood up and held her katana low to the side, knocking over the propped up sheath that a nurse had moved for her in the middle of the night.

Ranma nodded to her, making her relax. She crouched down and picked up the sheath before sliding her sword into it and putting it away. "I need you to get me a glass of water. Cold water, mom." Ranma sat up straighter in bed, wincing as he adjusted himself.

Nodoka eyed her son. "Are you sure, Ranma? You know what cold water does to you."

Ranma nodded weakly. "I need the water, mother. Please."

Nodoka eyed her son for a little longer before taking the cup next to the water pitcher and walked into the bathroom, running the faucet long enough to make sure the water was cold enough for her son. She brought the cup back to him and handed it to him, a grateful smile on his face.

Taking the edge of the covers and rolling them, he stuck them in his mouth before upending the cup over his head, forcing the change. A growl of pain went up in decibels as he changed to a she, the cuts disappearing as his body shrank to his female form. Spitting the blankets from her mouth, Ranma now Ranma-chan threw them back and took the monitors off of him.

"We need to go." Ranma-chan's spoke roughly, her voice tore up from trying to mute the pain filled scream.

Nodoka tried to place her hand on her child's shoulder, but had it brushed off as she stood up. She reached over and took the cheongsam in her hands, sliding it over her head.

"You're in no condition to go anywhere. You need to rest." Nodoka tried to reach for her shoulder again, but Ranma pushed herself up off the bed and headed for the door.

"I'll see you at the Tendo's, mom." Ranma said before walking out of the door of her room.

Nodoka rushed around the bed to follow after her child, or at least talk sense to her, but once the door was open she couldn't find Ranma anywhere in the hallway. A few beds sat along the walls for easy access in case someone needed moved from one place to another, but there wasn't any sign of people or her son turned daughter. Biting her lip, she headed for the nurses station, hoping that someone could stop Ranma from getting herself hurt more than what she was.

* * *

It was late by the time Tofu had left the house of the Mizuno's. He had been stalking the doctor for the better half of the day, watching and waiting for when he would leave the house on his own and walk away. It was obvious that Tofu knew he was being followed, he would look over his shoulder every few blocks, double back on his own trail and even try to sneak out with a bunch of people to elude whoever was following him, but Ranma had been in the wild for ten years. By this time, he was an accomplished tracker.

Tofu led him into a park nearby. There had been a few people around with him, but they eventually broke up and left the park, as if the oncoming night was not the time to be out in public. Tofu walked up to a water fountain in the middle of the park and stood watching the water for the time being, waiting for his 'shadow' to appear.

"You can come out now." Tofu called, facing the fountain. "I know you've been following me for awhile."

Ranma stayed crouched in the tree nearby, watching Tofu. Tofu turned around and looked right up at him, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"I know you followed me, Ranma." Tofu called out, a cruel smile on his face. His hands stayed down at his side and the brown gi he wore made him hard to see as night seemed to coil around him.

Ranma jumped down out of the tree. She stood up and looked at Tofu with a scowl on her face while Tofu smirked from where he stood. "Well, well, an admirer." Tofu spoke, his voice soft but no less distrustful. "You're Ranko, aren't you? I think I remember treating your wounds."

"You'll leave them alone." Ranko hissed from where she stood.

"Leave who alone, Ranko?" Tofu's smirk broadened.

"You'll leave Ami alone, or so help me…" Ranma growled out, her fist popping as she flexed her hand.

"The doctor's little girl?" Tofu tilted his head back, putting a finger to his chin. "How do you know about her, I wonder?"

The sound of a mighty crack echoed through the park and Tofu's head snapped down toward Ranma. With a low groan that built to a crescendo, the tree Ranma had stood next to fell over, her fist still held out and against the rough parts of bark still pointing up in the air.

Ranma made sure that her stare got across as Tofu stared defiantly back at her. She stood there, letting her arm fall back against her side for a little longer before turning and bounding away into the night. Tofu continued to stare after Ranma, hate radiating off of him. He wasn't about to back down from anyone, not a martial artist, not a girl, and definitely not a martial artist girl.

It would just take a little better planning is all.

* * *

Ranma had returned that very night, alleviating the worry in Nodoka's heart and relieving the worry from Nabiki and Kasumi. Akane merely smiled to him and welcomed him home, though she clearly didn't know what else she was to do with him. Soun smiled and patted Ranma's shoulder with a smile on his face before advising everyone that they needed to rest since tomorrow was a school day.

As Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki were headed to school, Nabiki had a sudden thoughtful look on her face. Ranma noticed almost immediately and squeezed Nabiki's hand in reassurance.

Akane took one look at her sister's face and wondered what she had forgotten. "You did remember everything for school, didn't you, Nabiki?"

Nabiki shook her head, flashing Ranma a smile. "I'm pretty sure I am forgetting something, but I'm fairly sure it doesn't have anything to do with school."

As they arrived at Furinken High, they saw that the boys who would normally challenge for Akane had all been taken out, various slashes across bare skin and gymnastic clubs thrown everywhere, black rose petals covering the ground where bodies were not strewn across.

"What in the world?" Akane asked out loud before her danger senses screamed and she jumped out of the way of a ball that impacted the ground and buried itself.

"Akane Tendo, for the sin of attacking my dearest Ranma, You shall Die!" A black leotard wearing Kodachi Kuno shrieked as she jumped down from somewhere above, her red ribbon flashing outward toward Akane as she barely managed to avoid the ribbon.

"What are you talking about?" Akane shouted as she dodged the flashing ribbon by scant inches. "I haven't done anything to Ranma!"

"Lying tramp!" Kodachi's hand snapped forward and Akane's came up reflexively, catching a picture in her hand that made a nerve stand up on her forehead. "I have seen the acts of your foul deeds, and I will make sure that you never again harm my Ranma-sama!"

Akane looked hatefully at Nabiki who had put her fist in her hand as if remembering something. "Oh yeah, now I remember. I forgot to contact Kodachi about promising to change your ways." Nabiki spoke calmly.

"Then tell her now while she's here!" Akane shouted, pointing a finger at the insane gymnastic star.

"Honestly, Akane," Nabiki scoffed as she crossed her arms underneath her bosom, "You've dealt with Kuno for how long? When a Kuno decides to do something, how often can you talk them out of it?"

Before Akane could get her sister to change her mind, Kodachi snapped her ribbon forward once more, ensnaring Akane's wrist. "The time for groveling is over, peasant. I will have vengeance on you for my beloved."

The dust cloud from the fight and the sounds of girl's in pained combat didn't deter Nabiki as she walked by unconcerned, Ranma watching the cloud curiously. He looked at Nabiki once they were passed the cloud, getting Nabiki to sigh.

"You're right. That was kind of cruel of me." Nabiki said from the entranceway into the school. She looked back at the melee and an evil smirk graced her face. "I'll get Kuno to come down here and break it up for me."

Ranma smiled happily before turning with Nabiki and walking inside the school.

* * *

Yuka and Sayuri were never happier to see Ranma during lunch. They had eyed him worriedly all the way through classes, trying to catch his attention at times and being unable to do so. When they had gone outside and sat next to Ranma, there hands had been everywhere on him as they asked him if he was ok, checking for themselves by touch alone to see if he was trying to make them feel better or really was unhurt as he said he was.

Nabiki eyed them from where she was sitting, a pocky stick in her mouth as she watched the girls running their hands over Ranma's arms and chest, sometimes getting a bit too close to certain parts of Ranma for her liking. She kept telling herself mentally that it was for Ranma's benefit that he talked to others. It would help him become a better person and a more social one as well.

She took no notice to the person who sat down next to her and unwrapped their meal. "Is he always like that?" Ukyo sneered as she watched Yuka and Sayuri 'check' Ranma some more.

"Someone spread the word that Ranma was on a training trip and got hurt." Nabiki muttered aloud, biting into the end of her pocky as Yuka reached inside of Ranma's Cheongsam. "It's better to have some excuse other than what really happened to him."

Ukyo glanced over at the frowning Nabiki. "Something happened to Saotome?"

"His father kidnapped him." Nabiki muttered, missing the chance to fleece someone else of their money. Her scowl deepened when Sayuri helped Yuka get her hands out of Ranma's Cheongsam only to keep one of her own in there. "From what Elder Cologne said, he was being put back through the Neko-Ken training."

Ukyo blinked at that. Placing some of her Okonomiyaki in her mouth, she chewed and swallowed as she contemplated where she had heard that name. Her eyebrows furrowed as she remembered. "That skill that taught him to meow like a cat?"

Nabiki winced, turning to look at Ukyo's face. "What is it you want, Ms Kuonji?"

She took another bite of her Okonomiyaki before continuing. "An explanation of that skill would be nice. I'll ignore the playboy for now."

Nabiki eyed Yuka and Sayuri as they had both decided to lay their heads against Ranma's chest, making her wince and her chest hurt at the intimate going's on she wish she could do with Ranma. "The skill requires that you take your child somewhere around six to eight years old, tie them up in fish products and throw them repeatedly into a pit full of starving cats until they go crazy or die."

Ukyo dropped the piece of Okonomiyaki she was going to place in her mouth in her lap. Scowling, she picked the piece up before taking a napkin to her lap. "That's not possible. Maybe Genma and him thought it was a great technique but screwed it up somehow. You ever think about that?" Ukyo motioned her head toward Ranma who looked freaked out as the girls wrapped their arms around his waist.

"You want to take a look at the manual?" Nabiki offered, getting a suspicious glare from Ukyo.

"This is a trick, isn't it?" Ukyo challenged, her voice low and suspicious.

Nabiki stood up, dusting her skirt off before picking up what was left of her bento and pocketing her pocky. "Be here tomorrow at lunch. Don't eat too much, or you might get sick."

Done talking and needing to be anywhere but there, she got up and started to walk away just as a shout and a brawl worked its way into the school yard from around the building. The dust cloud looked familiar, but now there were sounds of Kuno shouting about twisted sisters and Kodachi shrieking about peasant women. Nabiki could only assume that the fight that had occurred from earlier that morning was still in full swing.

"Sucked to be Akane." Nabiki thought without a backward glance.

* * *

Akane had somehow managed to make through the rest of the day, word had gotten back to Nabiki that the fights had been one broken up brawl to another as Kuno went off with his sister, giving Akane time to rest before Kodachi would put her brother down and go off to hunt down Akane once again. Of course, Kuno not understanding when you are beaten recovered after moments and chased off after his 'better' half and resumed the three way rumble.

Nabiki was in her room after dinner, receiving the hottest glare from across the table from Akane all throughout the meal. Apparently, Akane wasn't going to forgive her sister about 'forgetting' something as important as the safety of her own sister. As Ranma and Kasumi finished up the dishes and prepared to head out toward the dojo, Nodoka called for her son.

"Ranma, I wanted to let you know that Elder Cologne of the Nekohanten has offered to train you some." She saw her son shiver at the name of the café and felt a twinge inside of her for seeing the dear cross her child's face if just for a moment. "She believes that the next time that Genma makes his appearance, he will target you specifically. Se wants you to be able to avoid him at all costs, or be able to hold him off for as long as necessary until help arrives."

Ranma tilted his head for a moment before lightly bowing to his mother. Seeing Kasumi come around the corner in her light pink gi, Ranma smiled gently before turning and following the eldest daughter out of the room and toward the dojo. Nodoka smiled at the small things Ranma showed to the children of the Tendo house, the few times his face would come alive at something around him or of the girls that were close to him.

"Ranma looks so happy being here." Nodoka spoke sadly, with a wistful tone as she watched down the hall as Kasumi and Ranma disappeared into the dojo outside.

"I don't know if it's good for him, though." Soun muttered as he crossed his arms and assumed a thinking pose as he sat in his spot at the table, the newspaper sitting down on the table, unopened.

Nodoka turned her head to him, inclining it to one side as she looked at Soun.

Soun looked at her with a serious gaze. "Can you imagine what he would do if one of those he thought close to his heart were in danger?" Soun saw the pride in her face and spoke on quickly to stop it. "What would he do to prevent them from being hurt? Would he go so far as to sacrifice himself?" He saw the sudden fear in her eyes and her smile quickly turned terror. "He's already a strong man, there's no doubt about that, and as long as Genma comes for Ranma, I don't see anything too problematic about it. But if they ever got between Genma and Ranma, I fear what Genma would create in him."

"What are you two talking about?" Akane asked as she came back from the bathroom, a set of pajamas on as she sat down between her father and Nodoka.

"We're talking old folk stuff, Akane dear." Soun smiled to Akane while Nodoka tried to compose herself. "Nothing to be concerned about."

Akane looked between her father and Nodoka, who looked like she had just thought of something that had spooked her all the way to the grave. She smiled without any kind of real heart behind it, making it look like a cheap mask had been hastily erected.

"You're talking about the engagement again, aren't you?" Akane asked, watching a shock go through Nodoka's eyes and Soun's widening slightly.

Chuckling as he scratched the back of his head, Soun chuckled brightly. "There's no fooling my little girl, is there? Why you're going to be a great martial artist with that kind of perception on you."

* * *

Kasumi was trying to go light on the training, but Ranma was pushing her limits, making her go all out and forcing her to keep up with him. She shifted her weight and pivoted, turned and jumped, punched and blocked nearly as if he had choreographed a dance that Ranma was leading her through. She saw the intense concentration on his face and fought with everything she had, catching Ranma's wrist for but a moment, nearly tossing him over her should before he landed before her and pushed against her as she tried to right herself and get away from him.

The move forced her backwards and for a moment she thought she was going to fall hard on her back when the same hand that was pushing her grabbed her gi and halted her with just a light grunting noise. She reflexively grabbed hold of the arm that held her up, legs bent at the knees and all her upper body nearly parallel with the ground before Ranma eased her back up to her feet.

She collapsed up against him, taking a breath she didn't know she had held the moment she had stopped falling. Wrapping her arms around his body, she held onto him as she tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. He reached up and held her elbows carefully, unsure whether she was simply tired or shaking off the adrenaline her body had pumped into her with the sudden movement Ranma had forced her into.

He nearly stood up on his tiptoes as Kasumi gripped hold of his back and turned her face down into his shoulder, shaking gently as a soft sob escaped her. Ranma's mind was in overdrive as he wondered if he had gone too far in her training, somehow hurting her unintentionally in his desire to teach her. She had always come to him if she could to be taught, only going to Soun if he was unable to teach her something new, which only happened a few times when he had been away from the dojo and the house.

"I'm…" Kasumi hiccupped before she giggled gently. "I'm sorry, Ranma. I got your gi all wet." She tilted her head up and smiled brightly to him, a few tears still tracked down her cheeks. Releasing his back with on hand, she reached up to where she had her head nestled previously, wiping the wet spot as if trying to deny it had happened.

Ranma's concerned eyes looked her face over before he spoke. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked hesitantly, not knowing what he would do if she said yes.

Kasumi giggled again as she released Ranma and stepped back from him, her hands held behind her as she leaned forward a little, her smile brightening even more, if at all possible. "I was a little shaken up, but you protected me, Ranma. I know you wouldn't hurt me deliberately." She giggled again as the tension seemed to leave him and his face relaxed as he sighed in relief.

His eyes snapped open when he felt Kasumi's hands against the collar around his neck, the old leather having been cinched back together since it had come off of him last time. He watched the concerned look on her face as she ran her fingers along the cording of the leash and back up to the ring of leather cinched around his neck. When her fingers reached to the back where the knots had been retied into it, he reached back quickly and caught her fingers as she fiddled with one of them.

"Don't." Ranma's eyes had a terrorized look as he spoke with a hollow edge, all emotion gone. "Please."

She let her hand be taken in his as he brought it forward and held it gently in his grip, looking at her eyes as he tried to convey something to her. She tilted her head to the side as she frowned, unable to read the look Ranma was expressing to her. Releasing her hand, he tried to walk past her when she grabbed hold of him from behind and pressed herself up against his back, wrapping her arms around his waist as she tucked her face into the place between shoulder and neck.

"I have to go to Elder Cologne's tomorrow." Ranma spoke softly, his voice gentle but sad.

"Let me stay like this." Kasumi mumbled into him, his body shivering at the feel of her breath. "Just, let me hold you for a little while longer."

Ranma turned his head slightly, glancing at her hair from out of the corner of his eyes. "Are you worried about me?" He had never had anyone worry about him until he had come here.

"I'm afraid you're going to get hurt again." Kasumi felt her tears leaking out as she spoke gently, her body shaking as her worry forced its way out of her. "I'm afraid you're not going to come back next time."

Ranma reached down and pulled her hands from his waist just enough to turn around in her arms and wraps his own around her, gently squeezing her back. She sobbed into his shoulder harder, feeling him protecting her once again, the calm gentleness he expressed for her whenever she seemed to need it.

"Why do you have to get hurt?" She cried sadly, hoping for an answer from some greater power or simply to release her misery. Ranma didn't know, and certainly didn't get an answer to his own questioning. He held her for as long as she needed, wondering how he would be able to prevent her from crying ever again.

* * *

School had gone pretty much the same as yesterday's fiasco. Kodachi waited somewhere, no one knew where exactly, to ambush Akane and Kuno attempted to rescue her from his twisted sister. Lunch was a brief affair of allowing Ukyo to read the Neko-Ken manual she had snuck out of her sister's room while she had been sparring with Ranma. There was a brief moment of revulsion before the book was slapped back down in front of Nabiki before the girl had left without a second glance, walking off as if hating everything at that point in time.

Tempted as she was to toss the manual into the school furnace, she held onto it and hid it in a place only she would look, not telling even her fellow clerks and scouts for the next big money making fight. School had let out with Kuno fighting his sister to a standstill in the middle of the front area before the gates while everyone simply passed by on their way home.

Nabiki, Akane, and Ranma moved for the commercial district, heading for the cat café. They had heard the place was making hand over fist with their Chinese recipes and few Japanese meals and when they found the place, they were a little surprised at its size. A small two story building outside with a modest sign hanging above the doorway, the tan wood of the building looking as if the building had been a little too windswept.

Opening the doors, the tables were packed with customers. The lavender haired amazon Shampoo took orders and threw them with accuracy to the cook in the back as if the paper she scribbled on were shurikens or some such. The cook was just as nimble with her food preparations, her hands blurring from grills and woks, gathering soups into bowls and food onto plates before slinging them back out to the younger girl. Occasionally, the white robed sight challenged boy came from the back to take away the dirty plates and disappear back into the kitchen, the sound of dishes clattering loudly.

"Wow." Nabiki managed to state as her eyebrow quirked at the madness that was the staff of the NekoHanten.

"I could do that." Akane scoffed and Nabiki snorted.

As if Ranma's entrance was a cue, Cologne finished up the last meal order and pogoed out from the kitchen area, coming right up to Ranma. "Welcome, honored guests. Have you come for the training?"

Ranma bowed low before the elder woman before him and began to talk in the language of the amazons. "Elder Kuh Lon, this one has come as directed to be taught."

Cologne's eyes narrowed at Ranma as he refused to stand back up. "I did not order you to come and learn from me, child." Cologne spoke in Japanese, making Ranma wince. "I asked you to come if you wanted to learn. If you do not wish to learn, then I will not teach you." She turned her back promptly on them and headed back to the kitchen.

"This one wishes to learn from Elder Kuh Lon of the Joketsuzoku Amazon!" Ranma shouted in mandarin, making all in the building freeze for different reasons. The Amazons had understood what Ranma had said, the Japanese patrons looked at the boy as if he was mad.

Cologne looked over her shoulder shrewdly at Ranma. "Come with me." She spoke calmly, her eyes calculating as she turned and guided them through the kitchen.

Out the back of the café, Ranma watched as Cologne threw a few pieces of wood together and lit them with a match, adding a bit of scrub to get it going and waited for a moment till the flames would last on their own before she reached into her robes and took out chestnuts, holding them out before her.

"This is an Amazon technique that should only be taught to those of my tribe." Cologne stressed to the three, who watched as Cologne tossed the chestnuts into the fire and waited. Before Nabiki could ask what the point was, Cologne's hands blurred into the fire before she held up in both hands the chestnuts she had just thrown into it. "This is the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken, or Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire technique."

Both Akane and Nabiki stared dumbfounded at the old woman while Ranma crouched down on the other side of the fire. "Your hands must move fast enough to grab the chestnuts without being burnt. That is the training."

"Elder." Mousse called as he stuck his head out the back door. "We have more customers."

"Then cook, stupid duck boy." A hot chestnut pelted him in his head, knocking him back into the kitchen with a slam. Sighing, she shook her head back toward the kitchen. "Never could get good help."

"I can help." Akane said, smiling with a fist clenched in front of herself. Nabiki stared at Akane as if she was crazy, though through a cold and calculating facemask.

"We need dishes washed while he cooks. Do a good job and I'll keep you on permanently." Cologne dismissed her with a wave of her hand, pulling a bag of chestnuts from within her robes and taking some in her hand. "Break any, and it'll come out of your pocket."

Akane rushed into the kitchen, all to glad to show that she could change for the better. Nabiki watched her disappear into the kitchen, turning back toward Cologne and Ranma. "I'll be taking off now, be good to Ranma, ok?" Cologne dismissed her in the same way as Akane. Nabiki wasted no time in getting out of the kitchen and out of the restaurant.

"Ranma." The boy looked up at her as she gave him a critical stare. "I am ordering you to stop once you have hurt yourself too badly to continue. You cannot train in this technique if your fingers are burnt off."

Ranma looked back down into the fire, waiting for the chestnuts to be thrown in. As Cologne's hand reared back to toss the chestnuts into the fire, the sound of a feminine scream and a fire ranging out of control reached her ears. Screams from inside the restaurant came to her next, making both Ranma and Colonge rush into the kitchen.

The sink that held the dirty dishes was pouring a white fog that creeped over everything. Impossibly, the water the dishes were in was dancing with fire on the surface, the faucet also was shooting flames from it and the signs of many wrecked dishes were tossed into a nearby garbage can. The food from the grill to the wok to the refrigerator was in open revolt, somehow taking on a life of its own as it fought back against the weapon weilder that was Mousse. He managed to get a mace into a plate of Dim Sum that had tried to jump him only to be taken down by lo mien noodles from behind.

In the dining area, those who had not fled were watching the open floor show of Shampoo with saber in hand fighting against Akane who was using a bowl of soup that had somehow begun to glow a mysterious dark blue and a chair. Shampoo would whittle the chair down a leg at a time before the soup would be tossed in her direction, somehow never emptying as it refilled itself.

"I'll say this for you, Ranma." Cologne said as she sweat dropped. "Chaos seems to follow you everywhere."

* * *

"Honestly, Akane." Kasumi's upset and disapproving voice made Akane wilt a bit more.

"How bad were the damages?" Nabiki asked as she munched on a rice cracker. She knew it was bound to happen, who was she to get in front of fate and demand it to stop.

"Better than I would have guessed." Cologne sighed as she shook her head. "The young miss mixed bleach with ammonia and killed off the cockroaches we would have had if we had them. The Food and Health administration was kinder than I would have imagined once we explained that Akane Tendo had been in our kitchen."

Nabiki and Kasumi nodded solemnly. It hadn't been all that long ago that they had removed those guys from the speed dialer on the phone.

"In any event, we will be temporarily closed until they say that the toxic fumes have dispersed, which will take about a week." Cologne looked around the table at the assembled family at the Tendo dinner table, Shampoo and Mousse sitting to either side of her.

"How much do we owe you?" Soun winced, imagining what kind of bill they were going to receive for Akane's acts of vandalism and global terrorism. Maybe they should take that deal with the Japanese Government and sell off Akane's recipes to their defense department.

"I won't ask for money." Cologne said, getting strange stares from everyone around the table save for Shampoo who was smiling brightly, and Mousse, who was scowling. "I will instead ask for Ranma for the week's training. We were in the process of beginning to teach him the skill I had mentioned to Nodoka and will use the time it will take to clear the restaurant out to our full advantage."

Nabiki and Kasumi eyed each other while Ranma simply nodded his head. Both of the girls seemed to come to the same decision as they both looked from each other to the bubbly lavender haired amazon who smiled as if she was the happiest person in the world.

"But what about reparations for the loss of business?" Soun continued, trying to do the honorable thing and make up for the mess his children had caused.

Cologne shook her head. "We started the NekoHanten because we were going to need a base of operations and a place to sleep until Genma Saotome has been brought to our brand of justice. Since he seems to be going after Ranma, it is advisable for us to say as near to Ranma as we can."

"You could always train Ranma here." Nabiki offered, placing the rice cracker in her hand down on the table and giving the amazons her best businessman gaze. "I'm sure we could make room enough to accommodate the three of you until the Cat Café is reopened."

Cologne sighed and shook her head once again. "I'm afraid that's not possible. As we explained to Ranma, the techniques we are going to be teaching him are secret amazon techniques that are found only within our village. Outsiders other than the ones we accept or deem worthy of learning our skills are hunted down and killed without mercy." She smiled weakly to the bowl cut girl. "So you she child, instead of making enemies out of the entire house, it is best if we trained him in secret."

"Shampoo take great care of Ranma." She happily added her two cents before her eyes switched to a catty gaze. "Shampoo promise Ranma be treated good after practice."

Nabiki gave a challenging grin that shot lightning bolts from her eyes while a vein seemed to stand out on Kasumi's smiling face.

"Please watch over my son in my absence." Nodoka bowed slightly to Cologne who nodded her head to her before hopping up and placing her large cane under her feet, Mousse and Shampoo standing after her.

"With that said…" Cologne looked over to Ranma who stood up and joined Cologne, "We will be leaving immediately."

Cologne turned to leave and the Amazons followed her out into the lawn. Ranma was about to follow them when Nabiki and Kasumi got to their feet and came over to Ranma, taking an arm a piece to hold him back a moment. Turning to look at them confused, both Nabiki and Kasumi reached around him and gave him a hug.

"Be careful, Ranma." Kasumi spoke gently, feeling his arm come up around her.

"You better come back in one piece this time, Saotome." Nabiki muttered, feeling Ranma's arm go around her waist.

Ranma squeezed them both gently before releasing them and trying to step back. Taking that as a sign that he wanted to go, they reluctantly removed their own arms from around him and took a step back. Ranma bowed to both of them before turning to the table and bowing to the rest of the household. The amazons waited until Ranma joined them in the lawn, Shampoo scowling at how comfortable Ranma looked in those girls' arms, before they nodded and Cologne leaped off, the rest of them following after her.

* * *

Nabiki stared off across the roofs from the walkway leading out into the lawn. She couldn't believe that a week could go by so slowly, but it seemed that time did have a sick sense of humor when drawing out loneliness. Kasumi had also been a little lethargic around the house and in her practices, only going through the motions without any real heart behind what she was doing. Nabiki had on a few occasions had to speak to her several times before she seemed to realize that Nabiki was talking to her.

She had managed to call Kodachi off of Akane for now, distracting her by saying Ranma had left for the time being so that he could get stronger for her. It seemed to do the trick as Kodachi nearly swooned where she stood and leapt off to wherever it was that Kodachi went to. Kuno proclaimed himself Akane's defender and by all rights deserved to date her, earning him a non stop flight via Air Akane.

Akane had been in a better mood, though she had been told that she would need education in the kitchen by Nodoka since she had managed to create such a disaster at the Cat Café. She had tried for three days, which is longer than Kasumi had been able to handle the destruction before trying to get Akane to just boil water. She still refused to eat anything she cooked, assured that the creations she finished were edible and healthy enough to feed an army.

Nabiki didn't want to tell her that armies who ate that would die from radiation sickness within hours if not sooner.

Nodoka was still wondering how the water faucet had shot flames from the nozzle when Akane had turned on the stove burner. Neither of them had been close enough to the sink to turn it on but it seemed to take on a life (or is that unlife) of its own. She had pulled the telephone book out last night and was paging through the section for shamans before Nabiki had taken from her and calmed her down, telling her that it was a common occurrence with Akane and that no shaman would come within a mile of Akane after the first one.

She continued to stare off into space, briefly going over the past week in her mind and wondering how Ranma was before a lavender haired girl snapped her out of her reverie. Shampoo landed in the yard looking around in confusion and seeming to study the building before frowning and beginning to jump back off toward the rooftops until Nabiki called out her name.

"What sneaky girl want? Shampoo have no time." The lavender haired mercenary practically huffed as she stood where she was.

Nabiki gave her a critical glare. "Why are you giving our house a once over, and what happened to Ranma? He was supposed to come back with the rest of you."

Shampoo gave her a scathing look in return. "Shampoo look for Airen. Mousse do stupid thing."

Nabiki's eyebrow rose slightly. "You didn't say where Ranma was."

Shampoo seemed to think for a moment before she threw something at Nabiki. Managing to catch it out of the air, she turned her hand over and looked at an old, frayed collar that looked very familiar to her.

"Mousse take Airen off to bathe before come home." Shampoo explained, crossing her arms under her bosom. "Mousse told to make sure Airen clean when come home, tell to make Airen wash everywhere." Nabiki blushed, not needing to know that. "Mousse take collar off Airen, cause big mess."

Nabiki's eyes snapped up and stared harshly at Shampoo. "Ranma's running around in the Neko-Ken without his collar?"

Shampoo shook her head. "Airen no is cat. Airen scream once before hurting Mousse. Run off before we get there."

"I thought you said Ranma wasn't a cat? And what's with calling him Airen?" Kasumi stuck her head out from the kitchen, hearing some of Nabiki's conversation with Shampoo.

"Sneaky girl not warrior." Shampoo snorted, taking a proud stance. "Amazon trained from birth to hunt. Know when cat come by camp. Kuh Lon and Mousse scare cat off, not want Airen go cat." Shaking her head, she uncrossed her arms. "Shampoo take to long, need to find Airen before sneaky bad man find." Jumping onto the roof of the dojo, Shampoo jumped off into the city.

"Is everything ok, Nabiki?" Kasumi asked, watching as Nabiki seemed to look down at her hand.

"No sis. I don't think anything is ok." She spoke before clenching her hand around the collar.

* * *

Tonight was the night. Ms. Mizuno had called, saying that she was going to be having a late night at the hospital and that she wanted someone to check in on Ami later on, apparently she had some kind of study group with her friends at some Shinto shrine and was unable to be contacted. She had called him to go let her daughter know that she was running behind and that dinner would have to be taken care of by her.

He adjusted his brown gi, making sure that the concealed bottle wasn't so obvious. His handkerchief was in his inside breast pocket, easily accessible when he was going to need it. He checked his hair one last time before heading out from his apartment, heading for the Mizuno residence.

Tofu smiled to himself as he nodded to those who smiled and waved to him, occasionally speaking to him and giving him a good word or two in passing. His mood was high and he didn't have to force himself to be civil to these idiots of the masses as he moved from one street to another, walking to the Mizuno residence so that those who saw him would simply think he was going to visit the good doctor.

Afternoon light was slowly shifting to evening as he approached the door to the house, a quaint little two story big enough for a small couple, or a mother and daughter. He knocked civilly, waiting for Ami to open the door if she had beat him there first from her study group. He waited long enough to confirm that she had not come back yet from her study group before reaching underneath the front door mat for the key to the house and unlocked the door, stepping inside.

He looked around, calling once for Ami and getting nothing back for a response. Smiling to himself as he replaced the key back under the mat, he stepped inside and locked the door behind himself before moving over to the phone and unhooking it from the back. He walked through the house, unhooking one phone after another as he made sure that there would be no distractions and cries for help.

He moved upstairs next, heading for Ami's room and opening the door slowly, reverently. Her room was nearly bare of anything gaudy, aesthetically clean and filled with books, the only things that stood out that it was a girl's room was the frills of lace on the edge of the blankets and the closet door barely open, showing a simple dress for a girl in her teens.

A school book had been left open on the small desk, the pages a high level medical book for college students. He grinned at that, remembering the days when he had gone over his studies for his doctorate and license to practice. It had led him to the cornucopia of young girls he had hoped it would, all that skin and innocence as he took from them everything his mind could dream up.

He heard the downstairs door open up and close behind itself. Stepping over and pushing the door closed carefully, he reached into his gi and pulled out the cloth and bottle of chloroform. Making sure to coat the rag liberally, he placed the bottle to the side and waited for her to come into her room as he stood in the corner where the door would open up and stop against the corner of the room.

He didn't have to wait long as Ami stepped into the room, her door hitting the wall and stopping with enough room for him to hide quietly. She walked past, leaving the door open as she walked straight to her desk and placed her bookbag against the outside part of the desk next to her chair. Looking down over the book, she flipped through a page or two before sighing and shaking her head.

As she stood back up, she felt an arm reach around her and pin her arms to her body, a cloth placed to her mouth stifled her scream of surprise. She struggled as the arm lifted her slightly into the air, preventing her from stomping on the feet of whoever had taken her unaware. Tofu smiled as she tried to kick his shins with her heels to hit the shin guards under his pant legs, making the kicks ineffective.

She struggled for a little longer before the chloroform started to take effect, her jerking and twisting slowing down until it finally stopped. He held it against her face for a bit longer to make sure she was unconscious before tossing her belly down onto her bed, her skirt flipping a little up her legs.

He grinned at the tease, the cheap thrill of having panties flashed at him, even if she was unconscious and didn't intend to do it. His body responded as he imagined what he was going to do to her, the things he was going to teach her body. He was going to make sure she felt every little thing he would do to her and even if she didn't know who did it, she would know that she was owned in such a way as to never forget him.

He reached down to flip her over when the window over the bed broke inward, a body shooting through the pane of glass to slam into him and knock him away from his conquest. He had time to see black hair done up in a pigtail before he was hit rapidly in the face, knocking him unconscious.

* * *

**One more chapter down into this story, and hey, it wasn't much, but Akane did get her butt handed to her consecutively by both Kuno's. Ranma got some cuddle time from Kasumi, and who wouldn't want some time with Kasumi? Maybe now we'll find out exactly what that collar's got over him in terms of mental conditioning. No sign of the panda for now, but you can be sure, he's up to trouble somewhere.**


	15. Counseling

**When I said I was a procrastinator, I meant it. Hello, and welcome once again to another chapter of this Ranma fic, I am your host, G.B. Now with the introductions out of the way, I would just like to say one or two things before we get started, skip down now if you don't want to read. Still with me? Good.**

**This is not a Ranma/Sailor Moon cross over, I am only using the characters of Sailor Moon as a plot device to continue the storyline. That being said, I will begin to remove any and all Sailor Moon content from now onward. Two, maybe three chapters at the most. Second, Ranma will not commit suicide. This may be a dark fic, but suicide ain't the answer kiddies. I preach no religion nor do I condone or deny the existence of any and all higher powers. This is simply a story.**

**With that finished, on to the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: If you find pleasure in suing me, then go right ahead. Your case will be thrown out since I own nothing of what is written within this story.**

* * *

She woke up to the feel of the breeze coming from the window. She felt a little sore from laying on her back wrong, but nothing she couldn't handle. Still, something told her that she needed to wake up, that something was wrong. She sat up slowly, a groan escaping her lips as the sound of her laptop was coming from her school bag. She placed her hand to her head and tried to shake off the fog that seemed to slow down her thinking processes as she reached for the book bag, pulling out the laptop with a practiced ease. 

Opening her laptop, the face of Minako Aino was staring back at her in worry. "Thank God, you're alright. When you didn't show up for the meeting, we thought something had happened to you."

The meeting? Was it really that late? She looked down at the corner of her laptop to the clock that marched ever onward, seeing that it was a good hour after when they were supposed to get together and discuss about their next plans for any youma incursions.

"Sorry, I must have…?" Ami felt something in her hair as she tried to brush it back from her face, something that was sticky and slightly congealed. She brought it down in front of her and looked at her palm in confusion at the red sticky mess in her hand. "What the…?"

Minako's face became even more worried. "Ami? What's going on over there?" The sounds of Usagi and Makoto came over from the background as they tried to get even more information from Minako.

Ami looked up from her laptop and looked around, noticing the foot that was sticking out from her private bathroom, a pool of something shining with the starlight from the window that looked to have been broken in from outside. Glass littered the floor and gouge marks were slashed into the walls as she stood carefully on woozy legs. Placing the laptop down to face after her as she walked toward the foot, she reached inside the bathroom to flip the light on before opening the door.

The gasp that came over the speakers to the rest of Ami's friends made their nerves stand up on end. Usagi, a girl with two balls of blonde hair with a single ponytail from both, ripped the communicator from Minako's hand, shouting into it. "Ami! What's going on? Where are you?!"

Ami's scream of horror jumped from the speaker and the picture of the laptop falling to the ground and bouncing before landing on its side gave the a view of a man laying facedown inside of Ami's private bathroom. Reaching for the brooch at her throat, she shouted the words to begin her transformation into Sailor Moon as she ran for the doorway.

* * *

A full day of searching turned nothing up. Wherever Ranma had run off to, he had disappeared even from the amazons, who had lost his trail somewhere in the Juuban district. Nabiki sat in front of the television, watching for any breaking news or information of a martial artist running around with Ranma's description. She even had her people out looking for Ranma, but so far, they had not heard anything from them at all. 

Soun and Akane had done their own searching which had been about as useful as Nabiki's informants. Combing all of Nerima, even stopping off at Ukyo's now open business, they had come up with nothing in the slightest. Akane had headed out to the dojo to work out so that she wouldn't worry for the boy who she had started to come to terms with. Soun sat at the table consoling a distraught Nodoka who had wanted to continue to search for her son long after she had tired herself out.

Kasumi worked in the kitchen, though she was basically doing the same thing over and over again. She stirred the soup for the night while her eyes looked out the kitchen window, wondering where Ranma could have been at. She would have gone and searched for him as well, but she knew that he would come home eventually. It was the one thing she trusted about Ranma the most, that he would always come back.

When someone at the front door knocked, the entire household rushed to answer the front door, only being beaten there by Kasumi herself. Opening the door, a man in a trench coat backed by one of the local police department stood in front of them. "Excuse me for interrupting your night, but is this the Tendo Dojo where one Saotome Ranma lives?" The man in the trench coat asked, noting that several people stood behind the homemaker.

"This is the Tendo Dojo, is there something I can help you with?" Kasumi said with a smile and inclined her head to the side, though inside she was worried what this could mean.

"I'm detective Yoshikawa, Juuban division. This is a representative from the Nerima district, officer Taiza." The trench coated man said as he directed everyone to the officer behind him. "If it's alright with you, can we speak inside? I know it's late and all but we need to ask you some questions."

Nodding her head to the detective, all of the household lead them into the living room where Kasumi offered them a seat before heading into the kitchen for refreshments.

"We both know it's late, so we'll keep the questions down to as few as possible." Detective Yoshikawa said as he reached into his coat and pulled out a notepad and pencil. Flipping open his pad, he read from it for a moment before reaching back into his coat and pulling out a picture, laying it on the table before him. "Do any of you recognize this man?"

Everyone leaned forward to look at the picture, Akane picking it up to take a better look at it. "This is Doctor Tofu." Akane said, placing the picture back down on the tabletop in front of the detective.

"Does this have something to do with the doctor?" Nabiki asked, her voice curious and her face emotionless.

"We picked up Mr. Ono from a residence earlier tonight." The detective picked the picture back up and slid it into an inside pocket. "Apparently, he had been about to commit a very heinous crime against a minor when Mr. Saotome interrupted him."

The sound of dishes breaking in the kitchen made everyone turn their head toward the sound. Kasumi's shaky voice carried from inside the room, "Forgive me, I seemed to have spilled our drinks."

Soun stared worriedly into the kitchen as Nodoka stood up, smoothing her kimono. "I'll go and help her clean up, please continue without us."

Both the officer and detective watched Nodoka leave before turning back to the table. "We were wondering if you have seen Mr. Saotome. We need to question him on the mutilation of Mr. Ono."

"Mutilation?" Soun asked, wondering just what kind of mutilation they were talking about.

"How bad is Dr. Tofu?" Akane asked, hoping that her love interest wasn't too terribly hurt from whatever Ranma could have done to him.

"Why do you think it was Ranma anyways?" Nabiki asked calmly, her eyes narrowed as she considered what this would mean for the young martial artist.

The detective flipped a few pages in his notepad. "To start with, I'm not at liberty to say how badly off Dr. Tofu is. I can only say that he is hurt and has been sent to the hospital where he was last seen being moved directly into an operating room. That was an hour ago." The detective flipped a page while the Tendo's looked at one another. "We believe it to be one Ranma Saotome because in the brief moment we were able to rouse Mr. Ono, he was screaming incoherently the boy's name. We weren't able to get anything from the girl who was nearly assaulted by Mr. Ono, so our search took a little time."

"And yet you came here in only an hour's time. That doesn't seem like you were all that stymied." Nabiki crossed her arms in front of herself, her eyes narrowed slightly.

"The girl's mother was forthcoming with some information when she saw that Mr. Ono had been assaulted" The detective commented plainly as he noted something down in his pad. "So, have you seen Mr. Saotome recently?"

Soun shook himself before replying. "We haven't seen Ranma in over a week. He was off training with the people from the NekoHanten restaurant while their place of business was fumigated."

The detective wrote down this information slowly before looking back up. "Do you know if they have returned?"

"They're out looking for Ranma." Akane answered, Nabiki mentally cursing as her sister continued. "There was an accident during training and Ranma ran off."

The detective wrote this down, mumbling to himself as he went. "You say a training accident. What kind of accident?"

Nabiki headed this one off before it snowballed. "An old martial artist accident that got out of hand. He decided to handle it himself instead of making us worry about him. Unfortunately, we haven't heard anything from him since then."

"What are you going to do to Ranma when you find him?" Soun asked while the detective wrote down something else.

The officer behind him spoke up for the first time. "For now, we just want to know if he was involved with Tofu Ono's attack. Depending on if Mr. Ono survives will depend on if we charge him."

"Is Doctor Tofu really hurt that bad?" Akane asked, worried about her crush.

"Ma'am, I've seen a lot of assaults done to people in my time serving on the police force." The detective began as he slid his notepad away. "In all my time with the police, I've seen some truly horrendous beatings. This one is right up near the top of worst beatings I've ever seen."

Akane paled slightly while Nabiki winced.

Standing back up, both the detective and the police officer gave the family a polite bow. "If you happen to hear from Mr. Saotome, we would like to speak to him as soon as possible."

"Of course." Soun said as he got to his feet, walking the police out of the room and toward the front door.

Nabiki turned toward the table and bit at her thumb nail as she thought. Her thoughts were interrupted when Akane spoke up.

"How could Ranma do that to such a nice man as Dr. Tofu?" Akane was looking at her sister, waiting for an answer that would make sense to her.

Nabiki stared at Akane for a few moments before speaking. "There are some things you don't know about Dr. Tofu, Akane. Let's just say he's not the great doctor you think he is and is more like those guys who were trying to date you."

Nabiki stood up and stepped around the table, walking past Akane to head into the kitchen and see if there was anything she could help out with.

* * *

Kasumi's eyes fluttered open. She looked around her room in confusion before looking at the clock above her bed reading nearly 1 a.m. in the morning. Something had broken her sleep, something that had to do with her house that she took care of. She lay in bed and listened before sitting up and listening again. Shaking her head to shrug off the sleep still fogging her mind, she stood up and took her robe from the door before opening it and leaning her head out into the hallway. 

The bedroom doors were all closed and no light came from underneath any of them. Stepping out into the hallway as she tied the robe around her closed, she walked down the hall to Ranma's room and slid the door to the side carefully, making sure not to disturb Mrs. Saotome while she slept. She peered into the dim room, the light from the window shining down onto Nodoka's bed and her while she slept.

Closing the bedroom door, she made a circuit of the house from the kitchen on the first floor to the living room and stopped at the doorway. On the rack next to the door where the house members would place their shoes when coming back from walking in town sat Ranma's slippers. A quiet sound of water hitting tile snapped her head up the stairs toward the second floor.

Moving with steady feet and a rapidly beating heart, she headed back upstairs and down the hall to the furo. She opened the door and saw the clothes that looked to have been ripped apart, blood on the cheongsam made her stop for a moment before she stepped past it and opened the furo door into the bathing area.

Ranma's head turned around from where he sat on the stool. Blood matted his black hair and stained his face into a macabre mask, his eyes looking as if he had been scared out of years of his life. They stopped where they were for who knows how long, Kasumi's mind going blank as she looked at the boy before her and Ranma at the woman behind him.

"Ranma…" Kasumi spoke, her breath rushing out of her as she said his name.

He watched her for a bit longer before turning back to the wash basin and faucet, scrubbing his arms and chest. She watched him as the water dripped from him, blood and pieces of dried blood fell to the floor between his legs as he scrubbed himself. She moved either by instinct or need, she didn't know, until she knelt behind Ranma and wrapped her arms around him, laying her head into Ranma's back.

"I was worried about you." Kasumi shivered briefly as the cold tile quickly moved through her nightgown and into her legs. "When Elder Kuh Lon returned and told us you ran off, I didn't know what to think."

Ranma didn't speak as he continued to scrub his arms and hands. It made her nervous when he didn't speak to her and simply ignored her presence.

"Ranma?" Kasumi called to him, leaning back a little and raising her head from him.

He continued to scrub at his hands and arms, never saying a word.

Moving from around him to his side, she watched as he continued to scrub at his raw arms and hands. His skin was turning a bright red with the force of the wash cloth against his skin as he continued to scrub harder and harder, trying to wash away something only he could see. She reached over and placed her hand on his, taking the cloth from him and washed gently at whatever Ranma saw on his skin.

His eyes wavered back and forth as he looked at his hands, his face nearly emotionless.

"It'll be alright, Ranma." Kasumi spoke calmly to him as she motved the cloth across the skin gently. "See? It's all washing away."

Ranma shivered briefly before closing his eyes and breathing slowly.

Kasumi turned and briefly filled a wash bucket full of water for Ranma, reaching up and behind him to his hair and undoing the binding that held his pigtail. Removing the tie, she took the bucket and poured it slowly over Ranma's head before taking the shampoo and adding some to his head. Her hands were careful as she unbound his pigtail from its intricate coil and loosened his hair before scrubbing his head gently.

"The Elder said that you ran off from her, Ranma." Kasumi spoke quietly as she stood behind Ranma, feeling the pieces of dried blood loosen up and fall from his head. "She said you ran off from Mousse."

Ranma didn't speak as she ran her fingers through his head, simply shivered and remained as still as he could be. She didn't have anything else to say to him and he seemed unable to speak for now, so she simply washed him. It reminded her of his first days of coming into their household, the mangy look he had and the broken demeanor he carried himself in while in his female form.

She rinsed his hair out, taking a moment to hang her sodden robe in the other room before coming back and beginning to wash Ranma's hair once again. The feel of his hair was something she had never felt before. Even the few silk garments she had luxuriated over while out shopping couldn't compare to what she felt. It had a smooth fineness to it that she couldn't begin to explain and it shined with a dark luster that gave it a quality her eye would always be drawn to if not for his body.

For a sixteen year old boy bordering on being a man, his body was something she enjoyed the most. When he moved, it was like a predator on the hunt, but it felt like a piece of well formed stone in her hands. Muscles that had been toned from exercise and his art didn't give an inch as she took the soap in her hand and washed his back. His shoulders flexed for just a moment as the bar ran between his shoulder blades before she continued past.

She looked out of the corner of her eyes and glanced at the front of his body as she guided him over to the furo once the soap was out of his hair and off of his body. Pectorals that looked like they could fling back any money thrown at it stood out in vivid relief on his tanned body. The six pack that was his washboard abs made the woman in her yearn to take the boy he was and introduce him into the man she saw. Not to mention what was below those abs.

_"Auntie Saotome named him appropriately."_ Said the lustful voice in Kasumi's head that brought a blush to her cheek. She may have been a housewife in the things she did around the house, but she could enjoy looking just as much as the next person.

She waited until Ranma settled into the tub before she headed for the doorway. She looked back at him with a gentle smile on her face before saying, "I'm going to go change my clothes and start breakfast. Don't stay in the water for too long, ok?"

"Hai, Kasumi-san." Ranma's voice scratched as he talked, his face facing away from the door so he missed it when Kasumi winced at the formal way Ranma spoke.

She watched him for a bit longer before she left for her room, knowing she wouldn't be able to sleep anymore for the rest of the day.

* * *

The day couldn't have gone any slower for her. Since waking up and finding out that Ranma had come home at some point during the night, she had been forced to go through the rest of the day as slowly (or at least it felt that way) as possible. She had abandoned doing any business for the day, flat out telling Kuno he wouldn't get any pictures from her, and headed for home as soon as she was able. 

Nodoka had refused to send Ranma to school today. After whatever it was that Kasumi had said to her before she had woken up, she had refused to leave her son's side while he slept in their room. As strange and as inappropriate as it should have been to have your son nearly old enough to be out on his own to sleep in the same room as his mom, she wouldn't move to another room.

She came into the house as if nothing was out of the ordinary and to the casual observer, Nabiki was her usual cool and casual self. Underneath that, she was itching to find out where Ranma had been, what he had done during that time, and if he had ripped the good doctor into tiny little pieces.

She walked into the living room to see Nodoka stroking the hair of her son while his head lay in her lap. She smiled in her sad way at the mess of her child while Ranma simply lay still for her and let her fuss over him. The unemotional set of his face made one wonder if he felt anything or if Genma had somehow sold his soul to the devil. Nabiki suspected it was the latter.

"Well, Saotome, it's nice to know you can find your way home when necessary." Nabiki said as she went over to the couch and flopped down onto it, reaching for the remote to the tv.

"Welcome home, Nabiki." Nodoka smiled to her with only a little happiness before looking back down at her son.

"Welcome home, Nabiki-san." Ranma rasped from his mother's lap.

Nabiki turned to Ranma, her eyebrow hitched in the air. "Since when did you start adding san to my name, Saotome?"

Ranma didn't have an answer for that and simply opted to remain quiet.

Nabiki eyed him for a bit longer before looking at Nodoka. "Has he said anything about what happened?"

Nodoka shook her head as she stroked her child's hair. "He won't say anything, not where he's been or what happened to him, he won't even say why he ran away from Mousse." She looked over to Nabiki as she continued. "I've made arrangements through Furinkan to have the school's counselor help with Ranma."

Nabiki blinked at her. She didn't know the school had a counselor, considering how crazy it was around that place. "Did they say who was going to be helping him?"

Nodoka stopped for a moment and placed a delicate finger to her chin as she thought. "I think they mentioned a Ms. Hinako Ninomiya. Normally, she would be sent from school to school to correct the problems they have, but they said that she would be an excellent counselor for Ranma."

Nabiki frowned before shaking her head. "If I know Furinkan as well as I think I do, anyone they send to be helpful is only going to make things worse."

* * *

Off in the deep woods of the Japanese countryside sat an old encampment and a rockslide on a mountain face. No sign of life grew near the rockslide, vegetation or otherwise. It would be an ideal setting for a picnic if you could find the place as it looked off over a valley with no signs of human habitation for miles around. 

Along the rock face where it appeared a landslide had occurred some time ago, several rocks shifted. Sounds of birds chirping and animals that ventured close to this area stopped as the rocks shifted again, only moving a bit more than before. The sound of the earth rumbling from underneath the rockslide rose up to a fierce crescendo until the rock face blew away from itself, the shadowy recess underneath exposed to the world.

The sound of rasping came from the hole in the mountain and gleaming red eyes peered out from the shadows until a bellow of rage reverberated from within, echoing throughout the forest nearby. The being inside of the cave leapt out into the sunlight as a blur, leaping off into the woods as it sped away, leaving behind the destruction of the cave it had been in and an old sake barrel at the bottom.

* * *

As she stepped from the bus, she looked around the area she stood in. her brown hair flowing down behind her all the way to the hem of her yellow one piece dress. The girl of 8 years of age stood in place and looked around at the signs before heading off toward Furinkan, or at least, that's the way the directions had told her to go.

Skipping down the street, she made it only a block or two before she was shanghaied by the sound of an ice cream vendor. She couldn't resist the cold confection anymore than she could stop breathing, they simply tasted too good. After a brief stop for a triple scoop of her favorite ice cream, she continued to skip off in the direction that the paper said to go in.

She stopped at a T intersection between houses and looked one way before looking down the other. Ok, so the paper told her to turn to the right, but the right she was looking at looked like it dead ended into an alley, which was some place she really didn't want to go to. Icky bad people hid out in alleyways, and she knew for a fact that she couldn't stay around and punish delinquents if she was going to meet up with the troubled student she had been told about.

Looking up and down the intersection more and more, she was beginning to think she was going to have to take the alley and be delayed when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to look behind her into the face of a teenage girl wearing a blue fuku, her hair in a bowl cut and very dark blue to almost black.

"Are you lost, little girl?" The teenage girl said as she smiled into her face.

Normally, she would be highly annoyed by this, but seeing as this girl was trying to help her out, she'd let it slide for now. "I'm looking for Furinkan High School. I'm supposed to meet someone there."

The girl looked at her in concern. "Is your mother going to pick you up there?"

Ok, that was not where she needed this conversation to go. Reaching for her pocket in irritation, she was about to pull out one of her spare coins when two more people joined the first one.

"Who's that?" A second, older looking girl asked, her brown hair framing her calculating face.

The first girl looked embarrassed. "I forgot to ask?" The second girl gave her a disapproving stare. Turning to face the little girl, she bowed to her. "Excuse me for not introducing myself earlier, my name is Akane Tendo. What's yours?"

Taking rein of her irritation, she pulled her hand out of her pocket and bowed slightly to the girl. "I'm Hinako. It's a pleasure to meet you, Ms Tendo."

The older girl seemed to get a considering look on her face. "Your name sounds familiar. Are you famous or something?"

Hinako considered the two girls for a second, disregarding the third person for the moment. She didn't know either of them and didn't know if they were delinquents or not. It would be better if she didn't give them too much information to start off with, until she knew who they were.

"I'm just plain old Hinako." She grinned happily as she licked at her ice cream cone. She didn't like playing on her problem like this, but it was better than nothing. Learning to use it effectively took her a few years, but it had paid out.

"Nabiki-san, we're going to be late." The boy spoke at last, tugging on the elder girl's hand.

Hinako looked him over in her considering way while all eyes turned to the boy. He stood a little taller than most boys his age, his black hair done up in a ponytail. The cheongsam and kung fu pants were definitely not regulation clothing that a high school would permit their students to come to class in, yet there was something about the boy that didn't set off her delinquent nerves.

_"A delinquent who's not a delinquent?"_ she thought to herself as Nabiki nodded to the boy.

"If you're going to Furinkan, you can come with us. Either way, we can't stand around talking anymore." Nabiki said as she walked off to the left, the boy in step with the girl, though walking just a half step behind her.

"Ready to go?" Akane asked as she smiled down at Hinako, offering her hand to the little girl.

Hinako eyed the hand briefly before simply ignoring it and walking off after the two kids before her. Akane's eyebrow ticked in annoyance briefly before walking behind everyone, keeping Hinako between them for her own safety. Hinako eyed Akane walking behind her briefly before dismissing her, making Akane's eyebrow tick a little harder in annoyance.

"After school today, I'm going to go see Dr. Tofu, ok Nabiki?" Akane called up to her elder sister.

Nabiki looked over her shoulder at her younger sister. "The cops will probably turn you away at the door, Akane, or did you not hear the detective say yesterday that he was in the process of molesting a teenager the same age as you?"

"I'm sure it's all a misunderstanding." Akane waved the comment off, proving that she truly did live in her own little world. "Ranma probably got the wrong idea as Dr. Tofu was helping her out with her homework and jumped to the wrong conclusions."

"Ranma didn't jump to any conclusions, Akane." Nabiki snapped off before sighing and looking back at her sister. "If you go to see Tofu, you're taking the responsibility for whatever happens to your dignity and chastity. I wash my hands of it."

Hinako eyed Akane and Nabiki before eyeing the boy next to Nabiki. He didn't say anything during the conversation, though she guessed they were talking about him and some other person who was a doctor. She didn't like people who took advantage of little girls, considering she spent half her time as one, and would have to assess exactly why he would come to the girls rescue. Maybe he was dating her?

"If Ranma would tell us his side of the story, maybe we'd get a chance to hear what really happened?" Akane sniffed, averting her eyes from the backs of the people in front of her.

"Ranma will tell us when he tells us." Nabiki said as she squeezed Ranma's hand gently. She glanced out of the corners of her eyes to see if Ranma reacted to what she said only to see the same placid look on his face. "Hopefully the new guidance counselor will be able to help him out."

As the gates to Furinkan appeared before them, the bellow of a challenge echoed down the street toward them, followed by the dark clothing of a kendoist. This was proved even more as he waved around a wooden sword over his head as he charged them.

"This day shall be written in history as the day that I defeat you, foul sorcerer!" The crazed child yelled as he continued to run toward them.

"We do not need this." Nabiki muttered under her breath.

Ranma stepped forward and put himself in between Nabiki and the mad kendoist.

"Behold the truth for all to see!" Kuno shouted as he came to a stop mere feet in front of Ranma and Nabiki, pointing his kendo stick at the two of them. "The foul sorcerer steps forth to protect his mistress! As I had suspected from years before, Nabiki Tendo is the Devil himself in the guise of female flesh!"

"That is it, Kuno." Nabiki said as she tried to step around Ranma, prevented from passing him by his arm coming up in front of her. "I dealt with you for the money you could provide my family, but this is the last straw. I will not deal with you anymore and I will do everything in my power to prove to the world just how mad your entire clan is."

Kuno scoffed at her. "As if I, Tatewaki Kuno, could be put under the spell of one such as you! Nay, for I am of noble birth, and your paltry magick shall do naught to me and my blood! I smite thee, sending you back to the hell from whence thou came!"

Ranma's hand came up and grabbed hold of the descending strike of the kendo stick. Growling in his throat, Ranma pulled the stick away from Nabiki and toward himself as he gained the ire of Kuno.

"You will not harm Nabiki-san." Ranma growled, a light blue sheen fading into existence around his body.

"Silence, foul demon! Mine ears shall not lead me from my vengeful wrath!" Kuno snarled as he tried to wrench his sword free, twisting the blade back and forth.

His right hand gripped harder as his left started to glow brighter, four claws forming on the back of his hand. "You will not harm Nabiki-san." Ranma nearly hissed as his pigtail began to stand on end.

"Unhand my weapon, basest of fiends!" Kuno shouted at the top of his lungs as he strained to get him to release his weapon.

Ranma's hand gripped the weapon hard enough to splinter it in his grip. He twisted his hand and broke the blade in half, the audible snap making Nabiki wince and causing Kuno to fall backwards onto his backside when there was nothing holding him up as he continued to pull. Ranma hunched over where he stood, the wood in his right hand being ground to splinters before his right hand developed a set of blue claws. He growled in his throat as his eyes narrowed and turned to slits.

"Thus his true form is revealed!" Kuno crowed from where he sat before climbing to his feet and continued to point with his broken weapon. "The demon's magick has wore away and at lasts shows his true form to all who can see it!"

Kuno opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off from speaking as a mallet smashed into the back of his head and drove him face first into the ground, the force of which caused a crater.

"Honestly, does he not know when to shut up?" Akane asked as she shouldered Mallet-sama.

"He reminds me of someone else who doesn't listen." Nabiki muttered to herself, getting a snicker from Hinako.

"Did you say something, Nabiki?" Akane asked cluelessly as she turned to her sister.

Nabiki ignored Akane and stroked Ranma's head, trying to smooth down his standing hair and pigtail. "It's alright now, Ranma. He's unconscious and won't harm any of us if he knows what's good for him."

Ranma patted slowly as the blue shine dimmed on him, the claws snuffing out long before the rest of the light around him faded away. Before any of them could move, Kuno's head snapped up from the hole he made when Akane smashed him into it.

"I fight on!" Kuno shouted to the heavens, declaring his samurai spirit to never die.

"Happogoensatsu!" shouted the tiny eight year old as she whipped from her pocket a five yen coin and pointed it at Kuno, holding it between her index and middle finger.

Wisps of something seemed to bleed off of Kuno as his body seemed to wither into a hollow and flat Kuno. The wisps streamed through the hole in the coin and around Hinako's body, causing her form to grow taller and more feminine as she aged rapidly. As she leveled off at a tall five foot nine and a generous C cup that could almost be called a D. The one piece that covered her previously diminutive form now barely covered her adult form.

Passing her hand through her hair while the two girls stared at her in disbelief, she looked down at the still struggling form of Kuno as he weakly tried to stand and flopped back to the ground. She placed her yellow pump onto his arm gently enough not to harm him yet enough now in his weakened form to prevent him from struggling too much.

"It's boys like you that give men a bad name." Her deeper and silkier voice spoke firmly at the weakly moving Kuno in disapproval. "Delinquents, every last one of you."

Nabiki closed her mouth as she quickly took stock of what she had seen, though Akane beat her to speaking. "What the heck just happened? Where did the kid go?"

Hinako looked up in disapproval at Akane. "I am that kid, Miss Tendo." She crossed her arms under her ample bosom and looked sternly at the mallet wielding psycho. "Although I don't approve of one student bludgeoning another, I will simply accept what happened today as a freak occurrence and nothing more, though it would be in your best interests to not assault another student in this fashion again, is that understood, Miss Tendo?"

"Then you are the new guidance counselor Mrs. Saotome was talking about last night?" Nabiki asked as she looked the woman from top to bottom, cataloguing how she held herself to what kind of perfume she could smell from where she stood.

"Counselor?" Hinako asked as she looked from one girl to the other. "I don't know what you've been told, but I'm not a school counselor. I deal with delinquents, not counseling."

Nabiki looked her in the eyes for confirmation. Hinako's nearly black eyes never wavered as she stared back at Nabiki. "We were informed through Furinkan High that you were a counselor and were going to help Ranma here with his emotional problems."

Hinako eyed Ranma who had not looked up from where Kuno lay ever since he had been drained by her. Normally, any boy who had come into his hormones would be drooling all over her, which she personally found disgusting and as bad as the delinquents she dealt with on a daily basis. Ranma had ignored her since her transformation from her chibi form to her adult, eyeing the feebly struggling Kuno instead. She narrowed her eyes at Ranma in thought before shaking her head.

"We're almost to Furinkan High. Once there, I'll send you on to your classes and find out what the problem was. You'll most likely receive an apology from whoever made the mix up." Hinako shook her head as she walked passed Akane, heading for the front gates as the bell chimed first period.

Snapping out of their stupor, all three of them rushed after Hinako.

* * *

He had been traveling for weeks back into China. Hearing of an ancient concoction said to be made from the bones of the ancient dragons hidden in the mountains near the bayankala mountain range that would give him back his virility, he had set off in haste. He traveled relentlessly, stealing what he needed from the villages and farm houses he passed as he headed further and further into the wilderness of china. He had detoured only once when he had stumbled over Jusenkyo a second time, making sure to stay away from its treacherous waters as one curse was enough for him. 

Having long since run out of food, he was headed back toward the village of Chinese amazons when the sound of people walking through the woods had made him hide. He waited as the voices came closer and watched as a boy nearly as old as Ranma dressed in tiger furs and a smaller boy dressed in wolf pelts went marching by him.

"Why are we hunting this monkey again, Mint?" the wolf boy asked as he pushed a branch out of his path.

"Lord Herb needs a wife, Lime. The monkey we saw should turn into a very pretty woman for our Lord, and he will thank us when we get back." Mint spoke to the boy as he looked up into the limbs above him, looking for the monkey in question.

"I still don't understand why Prince Herb needs a wife." Lime spoke as he crossed his arms and watched Mint hunt for the supposed animal.

"It's a matter of sustaining the bloodline." Mint spoke as he listened for the monkey while he looked. "If the prince dies, there will be no heirs to sit on the throne of dragon kings afterwards. Prince Herb must take a wife and soon, before something were to happen to our Lord."

Genma couldn't believe his fortune. A whole throne made out of dragon bones, and these idiots were looking for a monkey to take back to their lord. More bushes could be heard being trampled as Genma slipped into the Umi Sen Ken, hiding his aura and presence altogether.

Coming up behind them came a man who looked to be royalty and was probably the very man they were speaking of. His hair was all white save for the portions that trailed down past his ears and on the very top of his head which were the deepest blue. His hair was tied off high on the back of his head to pool down over the white cape and golden scales of his shoulder pads. The golden armguards below his elbows and the belt of scales around his waist looked to be worth a small country.

"Mint! Lime!" The man shouted in anger, his face drawn up in the very emotion as his red eyes promised pain. "What in the nine hells are you doing away from your posts, and why, for the love of all that is holy, are you down here near those backwoods amazons?"

Both boys snapped to attention and saluted their lord. "We were here hunting for a bride for you, My Lord." Lime barked immediately.

"A bride?" Herb snarled as he looked between Mint and Lime. "You weren't trying to bring back one of those mud grubbing amazons were you? We just got done warring with them!"

"No sir!" Mint barked, his face hard but respectful. "We had come down here to hunt for a bride for you to bathe in the drowned girl waters of Jusenkyo so that you would have a bride. We were going to use the locking ladle to ensure that she never would change back into her original form."

Herb seemed to settle down at those words and eyed his two men carefully. "I find this insight from you two to be both curious and a sign of the end of all days." Both Mint and Lime sweatdropped. "What kind of animal were you trying to hunt down to give to me as a bride?"

"A monkey, Sir." Both Lime and Mint spoke at the same time, smiling proudly at their great plan.

Herb was anything but amused. "A monkey?!?" His battle aura raged brightly around him, lighting up the area with its brilliance.

"You don't approve?" Lime asked, tilting his head to one side.

"Do I look like a monkey to you?" shouted Herb into the face of the wolf clad boy, spit flying everywhere.

Mint wiped his face off before looking at Lime. "I told you we should have found a wolf."

Mint frowned slightly. "If not a monkey, then how about a tiger, my lord?"

Herb was nearly breathing fire at this point and breathed heavily as he restrained himself from throttling his vassals. "I am of the dragon dynasty, bred from dragons and meant only for the highest of standards. I will not breed with anything below my station. Just because that you, Lime, came from wolves and you, Mint, came from tigers does not mean I will breed with them!"

Both Lime and Mint looked at each other and seemed to carry on a silent conversation between each of them before nodding to themselves, a silent agreement that only they could hear. "Rabbit." They both spoke at the same time.

Herb's arm snapped up behind him, pointing back the way he came. "Get back to your posts before I have both of you gutted!"

Lime blurred away, running at his top speed while Mint did his best to run, though leap would be a better word for it. Herb breathed heavily as he put his arm on a tee next to him, recovering from the sheer stupidity his vassals seemed to exude on a constant basis. Vowing to beat the living hell out of each of them when he returned back to his throne room, he stopped suddenly as a panda appeared out of nothing right in front of him.

He would have defended himself if he had not been so shocked, but because he was, he never saw the rabbit punch that hit him in the gut. Gasping for breath, Herb doubled over with the blow only to catch a second one to the back of his head. His head swam as he fought to keep awake only to receive a harder blow to the back of his head, knocking him completely unconscious.

Genma picked up the man, fully intending ill will on the descendent of dragons until the brush behind him spat out both Lime and Mint who were looking around in confusion.

"I could swear I smell a panda around here somewhere." Lime muttered before turning his eyes and pointing gleefully at Genma in his panda form. "There, ya see? I told you there was a panda around here!"

"That's all well and good, Lime, but what's it doing with Lord Herb?" Mint asked as he pointed as well.

Lime tilted his head to the side and considered for a moment until his brain hurt. "Maybe this is how panda's marry each other?"

Genma wasted no time in trying to escape as he leapt away from the two mental powerhouses. He wasn't able to run very far before they gave chase after him, Lime easily keeping up with him while Mint did his best to follow after them. Genma ran back and forth, trying to lose the smaller of the two boys that was following him, but was unable to get very far from Lime before he caught back up with him again.

Genma came to a cliff and considered jumping down it to escape only to realize that he had somehow come back to Jusenkyo. He had been sure he was running away from this cursed place, how had he ended up back here again?

"I'm sorry, Misses Panda, but you have to give our Lord back to me." Wolf said as he reached out toward the panda, Genma swatting his hand away.

Seeing no other option than to dump his prize and run, he tossed Herb from his shoulder and over the cliff, jumping out of the way as the little boy in wolf pelts rushed up to the edge of the cliff and watched as his prince sailed through the air. Herb started coming around in mid descent and had just enough time to realize he was about to land in water head first before he fell in and realized that something was very wrong.

Mint came up next to Lime, who was watching one pool at the bottom of the cliff splash and bubble. "Did you throw the panda down there, Lime?"

"Nope, the panda threw Prince Herb down there." Lime pointed down toward the pool.

Mint groaned in dismay. "Prince Herb is going to kill us when he comes out of the pools. This is Jusenkyo, Lime."

Lime looked up at his partner and said "Really?" before looking down at the pool below. "I wonder what Prince Herb is going to look like when he comes out.

A splash could be clearly heard from where Herb had broken to the surface and swam over to the edge of the pool, unnoticing that something still felt wrong to him. He breathed slowly as he struggled to get his strength back as a man in green Chinese army clothing came over to him.

Speaking in mandarin, the Jusenkyo Guide asked, "Are you alright there, young one?"

In reflex, Herb spoke back, "I will be fine as soon as I regain my strength." Herb frowned as he realized his voice sounded different.

"Out of curiosity, were you a guy when you fell into the water?" the guide asked, receiving a hard glare from Herb.

"Of course I am a man. What do I look like to you?" Herb now realized that his voice was different, higher pitched. His chest also felt heavier and his body felt different. Looking down at himself, Herb took in his appearance in horror before he did something that to any who had fallen into a Jusenkyo pool before him did soon afterwards.

He screamed.

* * *

**and another chapter is done and put to bed. Seems like Genma really knows hw to get on the bad side of some really powerful people, wouldn't you say? Hopefully I won't take as long putting the net chapter out, but since I am writing on a new story in the Naruto section, it might be a bit. Until Next Time**


	16. Pervert's Return

**Wow, who da thunk I'd find the time to post a chapter. Long story short, I was offered a job in North Carolina that apparently wasn't even there, spent a whole lotta cash on hotels and gas trying to track down whether or not I had the job or not, and when I found out that it wasn't happening, came back and began legal processes for a lawsuit, kinda like what would happen if I didn't put this up here...**

**Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is not owned by me, and any usage I have of any and all characters of any Ranma 1/2 instances (people, places, references, etc.) I did not get permission to use any of it.**

* * *

She was heading to her homeroom, not happy. The frown on her eight year old face meant that anyone who saw her would think she was pouting instead of pissed off. Sometimes, she absolutely hated transforming back into a kid.

When she had given the passes to the three students who had been with her, she never assumed that one of them was going to be given therapy of all things by her. She wasn't qualified to be a therapist, what the hell kind of people ran this place, anyways?

"Delinquents, this place is full of delinquents." Hinako muttered to herself as she walked up to the door to her home room and sighed. She was going to get a headache from today, she just knew it.

As she opened the door to the room, she heard everyone settle down as all eyes were trained on her as she walked in. The books in her arms made it hard to see over, but at least no one was asking her what she was doing here. She placed her lesson planners and master copy to all the books in her classes down on the table before she turned and looked at all the assembled students.

"Good morning, class." Her small voice called out as she addressed the students. "I am Hinako Ninomiya, your homeroom teacher and English Teacher for those of you attending my class. I am going to be your homeroom teacher till the end of the year, or until something disastrous happens like the end of the world." She could only hope that the world ended soon, maybe in the next hour or so.

* * *

"You wouldn't believe it, Nabiki." Akane interrupted the peace that normally pervaded the space around Nabiki during lunch when she wasn't doing business. "That little girl that walked to school with us is my homeroom teacher."

"You do realize that she's actually an adult, right?" Nabiki sucked on her straw in a lackadaisical manner, though many boys would think it was erotic. She held her head up with her other hand as she watched the courtyard for money making opportunities.

Akane placed a finger to her chin as she thought. "I wonder if that coin would work on me?"

Nabiki wanted to snort, but having milk come shooting from her nose was not going to be pleasant. "I would imagine it would."

Akane looked down at her body and frowned. "Ya really think so?"

Nabiki eyed her sister out of the corner of her eyes before rolling her own. "I don't think it'll work that way, Akane. More than likely, it'll make you as flat as Kuno."

"You're probably right." Akane answered as she took a bite from her bento. "Besides, all these hormone crazed idiots would be after me all the more, then I'd really have to beat them off with my mallet." She sighed, wilting in her seat. "Why can't I look as good as Kasumi now? I want Tofu to notice me."

Nabiki's eyebrow twitched, hard. She frowned, suddenly losing her appetite as she put the mouthful of milk back into the pint via the straw. "I have business I need to deal with." She stood up briskly, throwing the pint of milk into the garbage before she stopped, realizing that someone was missing from the courtyard. She gave it a thorough scrutiny before turning to Akane. "Where's Ranma?"

Akane took another bite of her bento before she answered, speaking around a piece of food. "Ms. Hinako wanted a word with him. She's probably counseling him."

Nabiki's frown grew as she looked up toward Ranma's classroom window, wondering what was going on up there.

* * *

"Mr. Saotome, I have been directed by the school to try to counsel you through any and all problems you may have." Hinako spoke as best as she could with her eight year old voice and body. She didn't know the first thing about counseling, how the hell was she supposed to do this?

Ranma sat in his chair and ate his bento, keeping his eyes down on the meal in front of him.

Hinako sorted through a few papers of the incidents that Ranma had been involved with around the school, her eyebrow raising when she read how he had fought a tiger off bare handed. "It seems you've had an interesting time here at Furinkan, Mr. Saotome." She looked up at Ranma, a sweatdrop forming on the back of her head as she realized he wasn't listening.

A few seconds passed before Ranma looked up at the frowning Hinako, her eyebrow ticking in annoyance. He placed a piece of food into his mouth and chewed slowly, watching Hinako fume.

"Are you going to listen now, Mr. Saotome?" Hinako growled, watching as Ranma swallowed and nodded. Walking over toward Ranma, she turned one of the seats around so that she could sit in front of him. "In all honesty, Mr. Saotome, I don't know what I'm supposed to do to help you. I've been told to help you with what therapy I can impart on you, but the problem is that I'm not even sure how to do that."

Ranma tilted his head to the side as Hinako looked him in the face, her own scrunched up cutely as she tried to determine if he was listening to her or spacing out.

Sighing, she continued. "I guess the best way to begin this is to ask you if you are having any problems at home."

Ranma's eyes narrowed slightly as his hand twitched. "I don't…live at home." His voice was quiet and subdued, but the waver in it was easy to hear.

Hinako narrowed her eyes at Ranma's reaction and answer. "If you don't live at home, where do you live?" She watched him carefully as he seemed to relax.

"I live with the Tendo's at the Tendo Dojo." Ranma sighed, closing his eyes momentarily. He missed the brief flash in Hinako's eyes as her hand bolted for her pocket.

"I see." Hinako's voice was even, but her mind was another matter. "Who else lives with you at the Tendo household?"

Ranma answered obliviously to Hinako as her hand reached into her pocket and gripped her yen piece tightly. "Akane-san lives there, and Nabiki-san, and their elder sister Kasumi-san."

"_This delinquent is living in sin with three women in those girl's house."_ Hinako thought to herself as she slid her yen piece out, getting ready to suck this pervert dry. _"It's no wonder he didn't react to my adult form. He satisfies his lusts on those poor young girl's bodies every night, filling his delinquent needs!"_

She leapt out of her chair and raised her yen piece in front of her as Ranma continued. "Mr. Tendo is very kind to me. My mother seems to like living there as well."

Hinako sweat dropped as she stood in front of the blissfully unaware Ranma, her yen piece held in between her index and middle finger as it pointed at Ranma. "Your…mother?"

Ranma closed his eyes and smiled happily to Hinako. "She's very nice. I can see why everyone loves their mother's."

Hinako pocketed her yen piece, but didn't let go of it as she sat back down in her chair. "You say that like you weren't raised by her."

Ranma's face lost its happiness as his face turned downcast. "I just reunited with her after ten years."

Hinako gave Ranma a confused look. "Where have you been for the last ten years?" Hinako's mind tried processing this impossibility. What kind of mother didn't know their own child for ten years? Maybe they were divorced?

"I was…" Ranma's hand jerked harder this time, the muscles clenching fiercely as his hand lifted up from the table. "I was…being trained…by Oyaji." Ranma gave a full body shudder as he slumped in his seat.

"Are your parents divorced?" Hinako hoped it was that easy. A broken family was always a hard thing on the children, maybe that was the problem.

Ranma looked up at Hinako, his eyes confused as he tilted his head to the side.

Receiving only the look from Ranma, Hinako took it a step forward. "Your parents don't live together anymore, do they?"

Ranma, for his own part, looked more confused. "Parents…live together?"

Hinako stared at Ranma as if he had just spoken a long dead foreign language in pig latin. Obviously, he hadn't been raised in a healthy household, let alone society. Where the heck had he been? Traveling the countryside his entire childhood?

"Exactly what were you doing for the last ten years?" Hinako asked carefully, watching Ranma for any reactions that would tell her that he was lying.

"I was…" Ranma's hand reached up unconsciously and stroked his neck, as if searching for something. "training." Ranma finished, the hesitation in his sentence making Hinako narrow her eyes.

"Training in what?" Ranma shivered in his seat as if a cold wind and flown down his back. She was on to something, she just didn't know what.

Fear started to rise up in Ranma's eyes, his face scrunching up as he began to scratch at his neck. "M-martial a-arts."

She watched for a moment as Ranma scratched furrows into his own neck. She looked in his eyes to confirm that he was nearly terrified out of his mind before she reached up and took his hand from his neck. He reached up with his other arm and started scratching just as hard on the other side.

"Thank you for telling me, Ranma." Hinako patted his hand, trying to calm him down. He was beginning to fidget in his seat. "Let's go to the nurse's office and get your neck looked at, shall we?"

Nodding his head weakly, he stood up and made his way out of the room in Hinako's hand as they headed for the nurse's station, his hand continuing to scratch his neck.

* * *

He had been in the nurse's office nearly the last half of the school day. His neck had been wrapped in gauze that had felt soothing to him, but it just didn't feel right. They had asked about the rope burn there, but he couldn't speak. The memory of that moment wouldn't let him as it flickered across his sight.

He sat up in bed and looked out the window outside to the tree just out the window. The sound of the people shouting in their foreign language echoed in his memory as the light shined through the leaves above him. Looking past the curtain that hid him from the rest of the room and the woman sitting at the desk in her white medical coat, he reached up and unlatched the window, sliding it open as silently as he could.

He gave one last look behind him as he crouched onto the bed and leapt out the window into the tree and beyond the school grounds. Moments after he had left the room, the door of the nurse's station burst open, the towering ire of Kuno standing in the doorway.

"Base Fiend! I have you now!" Kuno shouted as he posed in the doorway at the curtained bed. "Know that I hold no malice for your enslavement to the evil Tendo, but I shall find the mercy in my heart to free you from her enslavement. I Strike!"

The nurse looked up from her desk as she watched Kuno dice the curtain into fine pieces before looking around for the person he wanted to beat into oblivion. Just because he didn't hate someone didn't mean he didn't want to show them the error of their ways.

Looking up at the open window, Kuno's eyes narrowed. "The Fates smile on you for now, demon of the bare fist!" Kuno seethed as his eyes lit with an unholy fire. "You have run this day, but I, Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, shall smite thee when thou does not expect!" Kuno whirled on his heel and stormed out of the room, leaving without a second look back

"You forgot to close the door." The nurse mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

* * *

He was nearly home, racing across the rooftops of Nerima when he saw something leaping in between buildings in a swift blur of dark colors, bounding from veranda to another. Ranma's instincts were telling him to avoid whatever it was that was slowly making its way toward him, but he was still feeling the ghosts of his past too strongly to move, fear immobilizing him.

It moved ever closer to him until it landed on the same roof as him and finally came to a stop, a diminutive man dressed in a full body ninja outfit, little white mustache that tapers to points under his nose and eyes that were way bigger than they should have been on his face focused enough to be described. If Ranma were to make a comparison, the man would vaguely look like Cologne, only he had a strange aura to him and was carrying a bulging sack on his back and a kerchief was tied off under his nose that wrapped around his head.

"Get out of my way, kid." The old man croaked as he waved his hand to the side. "I have to liberate these poor garments from their confines."

Ranma made to jump out of the man's way when a wet splash made his body involuntarily shudder as a water balloon snapped against him. Both Ranma and the little man with the bulging sack blinked momentarily in confusion, Ranma's eyes turning down to the yard below and the kids who were throwing water balloons back and forth at each other.

"Hotcha, Baby!" The little old man crowed as he blurred from where he stood toward Ranma. He went to grip ahold of the ample bosom that had materialized before him only to fall from the roof as Ranma simply disappeared from in front of him.

Landing from the improvised flip, Ranma looked down at the grounds below where the old man rolled in the air before landing with his feet and immediately began jumping back upwards toward Ranma. Needing to get away from the little old man, Ranma began her run for the Tendo Dojo, intent on trying to escape from him.

"Sweeto!" The little old man said as he landed back on the roof, only to find that the busty red headed girl was trying to run from him. "Don't run! Happi simply wants a hug!" With that, the old man propelled himself from the roof after the red headed girl, far faster than what she was moving.

Ranma's fear driven instincts had him dodge again, this time toward the street as the old man came up from behind and nearly latched onto her behind. The old man managed to maintain the roof this time as the girl dodged to the ground and into a nearby storefront that seemed to serve some kind of food. Squinting his eyes at the storefront, the little man untied his bundle and made sure to cinch it off around a tv antennae before jumping down into the street and into the same doorway.

"If you've got no business here, then get the hell out, ya jackass!" An angry boy in a blue upper kimono top and tight black spandex pants was pointing at the door that he had come through, shouting at the redhead he had given chase to. The ribbon tied off in the gender confused lad's hair behind the griddle made him blink for just a moment before he returned his gaze back to the well endowed girl.

"Sweeto!" He launched himself again through the air over the heads of those who were sitting down eating their okonomiyaki.

Both the gender confused lad from behind the griddle and the redhead snapped their heads around toward the mini missile in black clothing coming ever closer to the both of them. He closed his eyes as he impacted into the patted softness that was a woman's bust, nuzzling his cheek into the firm yet soft feel of the girl's chest. This was true heaven to him, Nirvana made manifest as he sighed in bliss. He was rudely ripped from his perch in heaven and slammed into the ground before he was smashed into hell by the business end of a battle spatula.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" A girl shrieked in offense as the world spun in his eyes.

He laid where he had been flattened at, the world spinning sickly in his eyes for a moment before he focused his ki, making the world snap back into focus before he jumped to his feet in righteous anger. "You little cur, how dare you come between me and a man's only pleasure in life!" He reached into his ninja neckline, pulling out a small, ornate pipe that he spun in his fingers as he looked around for the redhead that had ripped him away from the only things that mattered.

The gender confused boy stood at the ready, battle spatula held tightly in hand as waited for the old pervert's next move. "That's what you get for copping a feel, you jackass!"

"Eh?" the old man said as the fire went out of his stance. "You mean…you were…"

The gendered confused boy (?) looked down at the little pervert with wary eyes. "You thought I was…"

The little man dropped his pipe and fell to his knees, his eyes watering up as he held his over sized head in his hands, a look of abject terror racing through his face. "Oh, Kami, what have I done?"

Seeing as how the old pervert had realized his mistake, Ukyo smiled grimly down at him as she stood her large spatula up on end, taking a pose of a mighty warrior over him. "That's right, beg for forgiveness, you old…"

"I felt up a transvestite…" The old man sniffled as real tears fell from his cheeks, splashing onto the linoleum floor of the restaurant. "They felt so real, too…"

He was launched bodily out of the building at the speed of a careening bullet train into the wall of the building across from the entrance with a shouted "JACKASS!!" trailing after him. The smoking hole his body made only hurt as bad as the betrayal his hands and cheeks were still telling him.

Needing to rid himself of the disgust his body was making him feel, the old man jumped back up to the rooftops and headed back over to the bag he had tied off only to find that the bag had gone mysteriously missing. A gust of wind blew a few stray leaves past the old man as he continued to stare at the spot where his 'liberated' things had sat at.

"My…my precious…" The old man sniffled before breaking down into open weeping.

* * *

Ranma landed into the backyard from the rooftops, carrying the bag that whatever it was had left behind. She hadn't looked into the bag just yet, but it had to be some kind of training implements, the bag was a lot heavier than it looked.

"Welcome back, Ranma." Kasumi called from where she was sweeping out the living room, the bright smile on her face seemed to make everything better as Ranma looked at her and felt her own smile beginning to grow. "Oh my, what do you have there?"

Ranma looked blankly at Kasumi for a moment before realizing that the sack was what she was talking about. Soun Tendo, patriarch of the family, came around the corner and into the conversation as Ranma walked over and dropped the sack at Kasumi's feet. A premonition of fear ran through him as Ranma began to open the sack, only to have the sack explode outward in a spray of color as the packing inside of it was finally too much to stay closed.

Bras and panties shot through the air, landing all over both Kasumi and Ranma as the bag blew open wildly. Several lacy undergarments of plain to risqué clothing landed haphazardly over a fifteen foot range, including a sports bra landing on the handle of Kasumi's broom, a black satin bra with the 'tips' missing from the front landing on Ranma's head, and a pair of white frilly undies with teddy bears somehow managing to almost disappear down the neckline of Kasumi's blouse.

The normal reaction would have probably been shock in any other normal household. The Tendo household had a different way of going about such events.

"Dread Master!" Soun shrieked like a little girl, shooting to his knees as he prostrated himself on the ground toward the confection of silky undergarments.

Ranma looked over at Soun with an upraised eyebrow, wondering how these undergarments were the 'Dread Master'. She shed herself of several of the colorful garments before looking up at Kasumi and blanching. The eldest daughter Tendo had seemed to have passed out where she stood, the blissful smile on her face the only thing that would make a person wonder if she was actually passed out, or simply staring off as her mind went to her happy place.

Nodoka Saotome called out from the front door that she was back from shopping. Ranma looked over toward the front hallway leading to the front door as she watched her mother come down the hall and stop with an unreadable look on her face. Soun still lay prone in prostration, Kasumi had still not come back from wherever her sanity had escaped to, and Ranma still had a training bra over her head. The bag of vegetables slipped from her hands to the floor as Nodoka came slowly over to her son turned girl before embracing her child if a suffocating hug.

"My son is so manly!" She shouted to the heavens, somehow finding the scene before her the proof that her son was on the road to recovery.

* * *

Nabiki muttered darkly at her luck. Coming into Ranma's home room had gotten her a few questions from Ms. Ninomiya, questions she wanted answers to herself. Dealing with Kuno after he had proclaimed that he had chased Ranma off back to hell had been an ordeal and had tired her out more than usual.

She didn't bother to stay around school to collect the pocket change due today, focusing more on what had occurred to Ranma and trying not to imagine where Akane was heading off to. Her sister was pig headed and stubborn, but ignorant? She wouldn't have put a bet on it till today.

Having no one to walk home with, she could feel the beginnings of sleep crawling into her body. Ranma's disappearance had kept her up waiting for a phone call from her people on where he was, which did nothing for her natural beauty. Course, no one was brave enough or rich enough to approach her for anything serious. Kuno was about the richest kid anyone knew, but totally insane, which had turned her off from him long ago. Everyone else had enough money to make themselves happy, but they didn't have any long term plans ahead of them for a relationship and a household of more than one, something that, when she planned on living with someone, they would do their parts for the whole of the household.

A long time ago, she wouldn't have even pondered what it would be like to live with someone else. She would have scoffed at the idea and gone back to balancing the books. After a few years of just barely scraping by, she had learned to scrounge for every yen piece she could earn toward the house. When Kasumi told her what she had to give up…

She wouldn't show any emotion out on the street, away from the safety of her house. If word got around that Nabiki, Ice Queen of Furinkan High, was crying in public, there'd be no way she could put a spin on it that would be believable.

"I'm tired of being an Ice Queen." She muttered to herself as she stepped through the gates into the front lawn of the house, her shoulders sagging as she closed the doors of the gate behind herself.

The sounds of a kitchen in full swing met her as she entered the house. She glanced into the domain of Kasumi to see her elder sister in her element, Mrs. Saotome helping her out as they moved back and forth between the oven and the sink. Nabiki didn't call out to disturb their almost zen like movements as she headed upstairs.

"Nabiki?" Kasumi called out as she got two feet up the stairs.

Sighing to herself, she called to her sister. "Yeah, sis, I'm home."

"Could you go up and check on Ranma? He should be resting in his room." Nabiki felt a weight leave her shoulders as she replied her assent to Kasumi.

So he had come home this time, instead of disappearing to wherever again. The boy had her on an emotional roller coaster and she found it troublesome to care about him, but then again, he was becoming almost like family. She opened her door enough to throw her book bag onto her bed before closing the door and opening Ranma's.

He laid on the futon spread out on the floor, asleep to the world, though he was shivering. He looked to have just collapsed where he lay, his clothes slightly rumpled. She walked in as quietly as she could and headed over to the closet for the blanket that he clearly needed, if his shivering was any indication.

As she walked back over towards Ranma, his eyes snapped open and looked up at her from where he lay, though his head didn't move an inch. She smiled down at him and slightly shook the blanket out from its own folds, spreading it open before draping it over him. He watched her as she knelt down and tucked him in under the covers, a gentle smile held on her face as she smoothed the blankets out.

"Just rest, Ranma." Nabiki spoke quietly to him, reaching up slowly and stroking his hair back from his eyes.

He watched for a bit longer before his eyes drifted off and he closed them completely. She watched him as his breathing evened out and he seemed to relax under the covers, slightly deflating where he lay.

Ranma was such an enigma to her, probably one of the reasons why she was drawn to him. She couldn't imagine living the life he must have gone though, and yet, he was kind and gentle, but very protective to her and her family. Sure, her younger sister had looked out for her before, but it was a whole new experience to have a boy, no a man, watch out for her.

She lay down on top of the covers next to him and wrapped an arm around his waist, feeling him tense underneath the covers as she placed herself next to him. Laying her head on his shoulder and slightly on his chest, she sighed as the rhythmic movement of his chest began to lull her off into sleep.

"Don't get any ideas, Saotome." muttered Nabiki as she slipped off into her own dream world.

Ranma's eyes opened slowly as he looked down at the face of the resting Nabiki, his eyes flickering between rapid fire emotions. His hand reached up once again and scratched slowly at his neck once before he slid it back under the covers, laying back and closing his eyes once again.

* * *

Cologne worked in the kitchen, making the best Chinese food she could with the limited help that she had, namely herself. Shampoo worked constantly in the busy dining area, the only waitress on staff today, and honestly, she was the only one she needed. Sometimes, Cologne would have to keep an eye on the girl as she would have the sudden need to see Ranma, wanting to try her hand at this courtship the Japanese called dating.

It would be nice to see the next generation of amazons running around the village, and she would be very proud to teach them how to become the greatest of warriors. It made her feel young again to want to see children running around the village that she could be proud of.

"Shampoo!" The wounded cry of love that came from the white robe and bespeckled boy amazon caused many in their seats to whip their heads around to the front door of the establishment.

Cologne sighed to herself as the sounds of a beating that ended in rapid fire time ended with the same boy being launched through the kitchen door. She glanced over at the beaten idiot, blind as a bat and twice cursed by both the Gods and the Amazon tribe. Why he insisted on marrying Shampoo was beyond even her, the boy would never be skilled enough in combat and would have to take her unaware, which was impossible since she made sure that Shampoo was aware of her surroundings constantly.

She launched a bowl of miso followed by a plate of pot stickers and dumplings out to Shampoo, who had the grace to catch them out of the air with her serving tray without even looking. Bringing the tray back down by her head, she automatically countered the weight difference and balanced everything without losing a drop of soup or displacing any of the food that had defied all laws of physics when they had been thrown across the room.

"If you have time to lay there, Mr. Part Timer, you have time to wash dishes." Cologne spoke critically to Mousse as she turned back to the stove and started an order for Lo Mien.

"Who asked you, you old mummy?" Mousse shot to his feet as if the bruises on his face had meant nothing to him, his glasses left on the ground as he whipped to his feet and stared down a mop head.

Cologne whipped the cane she was balancing on and struck the blind boy in the back of the head with the top of her cane, staggering him into a wall. "Put your glasses on, buffoon." Her good mood severely soured since his arrival and all thoughts of children gone from her head.

The glasses eventually found from the floor, Mousse stood up and stared hatefully at Cologne through his glasses to the Matriarch. "You wouldn't be treating me this badly if I was the enemy of all women, Saotome."

"I don't treat you any worse than you deserve." Cologne peered from the corner of her eyes as she browned the noodles before turning them and finishing their cooking. "You are brash and impulsive, poor traits in…"

Mousse's collar was slightly open from where Mousse had been beaten by Shampoo, giving Cologne a view of the boy's neck. Normally, nothing about the boy would make her look him over as anything but an idiot, but the fact that he was wearing a very familiar collar around his neck made Cologne see red.

"_Mu Tsu,"_ Cologne spoke to him in mandarin, doing her level best to not gut the boy for what she suspected, _"Where did you get that choker at?"_

Mousse didn't react immediately, his eyes hidden behind his too thick glasses to be seen. "It's Saotome's." Mousse answered, wondering why it mattered. "I found it during our search for him. I stopped off at his house and was told that Shampoo had already been there. When I saw the choker lying on their table, I thought Shampoo would like me as much as that fool, Saotome, so I put it on."

"_You had better be telling me the truth, Mu Tsu."_ The noodles were burning on the grill, but that didn't matter to her at that point.

"What's the big deal?" Mousse took the simple piece of leather cording from around his neck. The lead that would normally be hanging from the front of it had been cut off by something very sharp. "It's just a piece of leather." He tossed it toward the garbage with an idle flick of his hand.

Cologne flickered as she moved, pounding Mousse into the ground with a swift strike to his head before snatching the choker out of the air and holding it up before her face. There was no doubt about it in her mind, it belonged to Ranma. She could only imagine what the child was like by now, several days without it on him. If he had been stressed in any way…

"_Mu Tsu,"_ Cologne began as her aura marginally slipped out around her body, _"pray to our God that I find Ranma in his normal state. If I don't, I will return here and take great pleasure in turning you into a eunuch."_

Turning back to the filled restaurant, Cologne returned back to Japanese. "Shampoo, put the sign up on the door. When everyone is gone, follow after me, there is an emergency that I may need your help with."

Shampoo nodded as her face took on a serious look. "Where you going, Great Grandmother?"

Colonge turned as she called over her shoulder, already pogoing for the back door. "To the Tendo Dojo."

* * *

Ami Mizuno sat with her friends around the table in the temple of her friend's practice. She had been shaken up to find Tofu Ono bleeding profusely in her bathroom, but she had been even more disturbed to hear that a boy she had briefly seen in the hospital had saved her from the rape she would have gone through had he not been there to protect her.

Just goes to show that even if you are a magical girl of light and justice, there are some things your powers don't protect against.

She had been listening half heartedly to the senshi meeting going on around her, her fingers typing out the minutes of the meeting while her mind was elsewhere. She wondered why the guy who had saved her had been following her in the first place. She wasn't much to look at, even she thought she was kinda bookwormish and not very attractive. It's one of the main reasons she threw herself so hard into her work at school.

She barely heard Minako sigh and mumble something about having her own protector that would watch over her, followed by the sigh of Makoto and wondering where her senpai was at, before she tuned them both out and continued to type into the mercury computer sitting in front of her.

She wondered where the pigtailed boy had disappeared off to. She had so many questions to ask him, the top one on that list would be 'Why he had been following her?' followed closely by 'Are you a Youma trying to seduce me?'.

It had already happened once to both Minako and Makoto, which she had pointed out to them as why they shouldn't even be interested in dating until their duties were done and they could return to having normal lives, but both girls had come back with comments about girls who wanted to have normal lives while trying to save the world, which just made her sigh all that much louder.

"Ami, are you listening to me?" the voice of the Mau, Luna, snapped her out of her trance like state as she looked around with a clueless gaze at her fellow senshi before looking down at the 'cat' adviser.

Glancing quickly to her computer made her blush as a search program was hacking into a few satellites in earth orbit, passing the security protocols without making the bases the satellites were from unaware that they were being used for something other than what they were meant for. There was even a satellite powering up on the moon that suspiciously looked like it was of Silver Millennium design coming to bear on Japan. Where the minutes had gone for their meeting was anybody's guess.

"Uh...sorry, kinda zoned out there for a moment." Ami scratched at the back of her head while those assembled at the table developed huge sweat drops on the back of theirs.

"I asked you if you were ok, but seeing as your mind was elsewhere while you continued to type, I can only guess that you aren't feeling yourself." Luna sighed, wondering if her girls were ever going to be ready to bring back the greatness that was the Silver Millennium when Queen Serenity ruled.

"What were you typing on?" Rei asked, their resident Shinto priestess leaned around the side of the computer, peering at the screen as the scanning program she had apparently threw together activated and began zooming in on Tokyo.

Ami's fingers flew over the keyboard, trying to shut off whatever the program was looking for, trying her best to turn off whatever it was that she had done, and wishing that she wasn't trying to disassemble a program she had thrown together. It would have helped a whole lot if she remembered what she did without trying to retrace her own steps. She was apparently a lot better writing programs when her mind was elsewhere as the program zoomed in once more over the Nerima district and crosshairs began to roam over the screen.

By now, the rest of the senshi had gathered around her and were peering either around the side or over her shoulder as the crosshairs locked onto something with a 'Target Located' appearing next to the crosshairs and hoping beyond hope that the satellites in orbit weren't as powerful as what she thought they were. She sighed as they zoomed in over top of a house with a dojo in the courtyard, no one in observance in the backyard and the satellites unable to pierce through the house to see what was going on inside of it.

When a pigtailed martial artist came out into the backyard followed by a giant spatula wielding warrior, she wondered if her luck could get any worse.

Then the scanner on the moon began streaming live audio...

* * *

Ukyo wanted payback.

It had been slightly therapeutic to blast that wrinkly old pervert out of her shop after being groped, but it would never have happened in the first place had Ranma not come into her shop, she was sure that it was all that jackasses fault. She knocked on the front gate of the Tendo building, muttering to herself darkly as she thought about the beating she was going to give to Saotome.

The eldest Tendo opened the door up for her with a bright smile on her face. "Good afternoon, Kuonji-san. Would you like to come in?"

Ukyo stepped in past Kasumi, her battle spatula hitting the top of the arhc as she passed through the gate. "I'm looking for Ranma. Is he here?"

Kasumi frowned for a moment before she smiled just as brightly as before. "I believe he's in with Mrs. Saotome in the living room. If you would follow me, please?"

Ukyo followed behind Kasumi as the eldest daughter walked into the house and guided her through the hallway to the living room, where Nodoka had Ranma's head in her lap as she carefully cleaned her son's ears. She was humming softly to him as he laid limply on his side, letting her do as she wanted with him, though the bandage around his neck had not been removed just yet.

"You and I have something to discuss, Saotome." Ukyo spoke darkly as Kasumi turned toward the kitchen, but stopped in the doorway and turned back to watch.

"If you would please, Ms. Kuonji." Nodoka spoke calmly as she finished Ranma's ear and put the tradition ear cleaning set to the side. "I would appreciate it if you would not speak in that hostile tone in my presence."

Ukyo gulped, seeing as how the elder woman had leveled a gaze at her that felt that it had pinned her to the walls. "Forgive me, Mrs. Saotome. I was just wanting to ask Ranma something and hope that he would spar with me to relieve some tension that I had received from ... earlier."

Ranma sat up carefully, eyeing Ukyo briefly before nodding and stepping out into the backyard, where the okonomiyaki chef followed him to. Unhooking her battle spatula from her back, she brought it around and held it in both of her hands, the large head toward Ranma as she eyed him carefully. Ranma had adopted a defensive stance and looked as if he was already beginning to feel the first twinges of fear.

Ukyo launched herself at Ranma, lashing out with her battle spatula at Ranma as she tried to strike him bad enough to vent her anger. Ranma leaned back from the first strike and fliped backwards on his hands before he rolled to the side from Ukyo's sudden spatula shurikens that nearly struck him. She spun on her heel, whipping her larger weapon around her as fast as she could spin before She came at him from above, reaching into her gi top and pulling out a small flour pack.

Ranma had a few seconds to look up before the pack was thrown down in front of him and then his vision was covered in the white powder.

-

**(off in the Bayankala mountain range)**

It was called Mt. Phoenix for a reason.

Genma had scaled its slopes for the better part of a day, evading every kind of sight he could by hiding under the Umi Sen Ken - Shooting Star Cloth. It was the longest he had ever tried to hold the technique over any period of time, and it had saved his life on more than a few occasions.

They had been flying around him at all times for the last hour, looking as if they were patrolling the air around the mountain top. The bird people of Mt. Phoenix, spoken of in myth in the villages near the base as the Phoenix tribe. He had seen a few of those self same bird people, and was thankful that they hadn't flown any closer to him than they had.

He was seriously rethinking about climbing up Phoenix Mountain and looking for the moltings of the Phoenix God that would restore his virility, but having an heir he could exploit was more important than anything else at this point. As long as he had a way to escape afterwards.

Climbing up the few more feet onto the plateau overtop of him allowed him to roll onto his side and pant with relief as he stared upward into the sky. He had made it to the top, something he wasn't sure he was going to be able to do when the mountain stared losing hand grips the further he went up, but he had made it, and his returned manhood was nearly within his grasp.

As he rolled over, he realized that he was in the back of some grand castle, a water like fountain spewing forth its contents into a pool that trailed off and fell off the top of the mountain to fall as a series of waterfalls to some place far below. He hadn't really paid attention to anything since escaping the weird wolf and tiger men that had nearly captured him since his failed attempt at capturing the Dragon descendant. If this didn't turn out well, he would have to try his luck at trying to capture the Dragon descendant once again, though he would have to try in his human form this time.

The sudden blazing heat and light that came out of the building vaguely in the shape of a human castle built into the side of a mountain made him jump to his feet and hide behind a nearby rock. A vaguely shaped man bird hybrid had walked out from the building radiating heat and light the likes of which he had never seen before. If this was the creatures aura, he was in some considerable trouble.

"Lord Saffron." A winged woman, most likely his retainer if the Lord comment had anything to do with it approached from behind as if the heat meant nothing to her. "Are you preparing for your final transformation, my Lord?"

"I was getting ready to." The man spoke in frustration. Honestly, couldn't Kiima leave him alone for a few seconds? "Why are you following me, Kiima?"

"It is the job of the Captain of the Guardsman to protect you, my Lord, until you have molted from your child form to that of your God form." Kiima bowed, crouching down to one knee as she placed one hand to her chest. Her white hair blew lightly in the wind as her silks fluttered to either side of her.

The sudden wet sound snapped her eyes open and the cold wind that blew against her skin before wetness splattered across her made her look up to see her Lord beheaded, his body slumping to the ground while his head rolled away from the rest of him.

"Foul bird demon!" A old voice shouted out from nowhere as Kiima jumped to her feet. "Your God is as nothing compared to my martial arts."

Jumping over top of her fallen Lord, she looks around for the cur who would have prevented her lord from his final form. "Who are you to defile our holy ground with your presence?"

"I, the greatest martial artist in the world, Ranma Saotome!" A rock not too far from her blew up and at her as she was suddenly pelted with fist sized stones.

One glanced off her head and made her dizzy enough to be knocked to the side by someone not there, who finished what the rock started and knocked her unconscious. She was woken up not much longer by Koruma and Masara.

"Lady Kiima, are you ok?" Koruma asked, helping her to sit up as Masara held a child in his arms that looked to have been recently born.

"Is that...?" Kiima asked as she held her temple, the pain making her eyes water.

"Lord Saffron." Masara answered as he showed the babe in his arms to her. "The hatchery told us the moment he had been reborn."

"What happened, Lady Kiima?" Koruma asked as she stood up unsteadily.

"I have a mission." Kiima hissed as she clenched her hands. "Feed Lord Saffron some of the Phoenix waters to speed his aging up. I will be gone for a while."

"Where are you going, Lady Kiima?" Masara asked as he cradled the child in his arms once again.

She looked at her child sized compatriots before she smiled wickedly. "First, I have to go to Jusenkyo. Then I have to go find a man by the name of Ranma Saotome."

* * *

**Finito! Another chapter down, several more chapters to go. Sorry once again for the wait everyone, now to get that Naruto story out there .  
**


	17. Happi Flight

**God, I am lazy. Actually, I may be gaining momentum back up again for writing. (I read way more than I should, as Shudder can atest to)**

**Ok, I've decided that I'll be using the Sailor Moon characters longer than I said I was going to, which now officially makes me a liar. I did mention that they would be gone after three or four chapters for those who have forgotten, well, that's tossed out the window for now. Who knows when I'll get tired of using them...**

**Disclaimer: Not only do I not own or have any rights to Ranma 1/2, but I have a hole in my head. Someone did shoot me, but I'm still alive. Guess I am a brainless wonder afterall.**

**G.B.: I have been beta-ing Evolution One Half for Shudder, who is just about finished getting the last chapter throw together for his X-Men Evolution/Ranma story put together. Do not blame him for this taking so long to come out. I am lazy, and that's the end of it. Plus he writes longer chapters than I do... (Shameless Plug)  
**

* * *

She was almost there, a few more roofs and she would be at the Tendo Dojo where, hopefully, Ranma was still alright. The sudden white cloud that burst into the air overtop of the house boded ill and she went to speed up, only to have someone she thought she would never see again land in front of her.

"It's been a long time, Cologne." The old wrinkled form no higher than herself stared back at her, eyes narrowed in consideration.

"You!" Cologne hissed as she gripped her staff tighter in her gnarled hands. "What are you doing here?"

The diminutive old man with white hair just above his ears stayed in his crouch as he peered at Cologne with curious, yet untrusting, eyes. "I came looking for someone that interested me." He eyed her for a moment as she twitched, the sounds of combat behind the old man making Cologne edgy. "And what are you doing here in Japan, Cologne? You're a very long way away from your village."

"I don't have time for your games, Happi." Cologne muttered darkly as she shifted her stance. The old pervert was going to make this difficult.

An especially loud impact brought both aged heads toward the slowly dissipating cloud. Cologne cursed at the sounds of combat becoming louder, then cursed a second time as a small explosive in the shape of a ball landed in front of her, detonating nearly on impact and forcing her to jump away. Happi was bounding his way toward the cloud even as she berated herself for leaving such an opening in front of the Master of Anything Goes combat.

She had to stop him at all costs...

* * *

She should have been winning.

The flour bomb had worked, just as the family scrolls said it would, as it had always done. She had practiced in this cloud cover for as long as she could remember, her father making her fight like this over and over again until she could do it without trying. Ranma had been caught off guard long enough for the first few strikes caught him unprepared and one had even knocked him into the koi pond, but after his transformation, the battle had left her favor.

Ranma's female form was faster, almost incredibly so as it blurred through the air and around her, not attacking her, but definitely making it hard for her to see anything. She wanted to beat on him a bit longer before he started to fight back, but she got the sinking feeling that he was merely toying with her.

"You Jackass!" Ukyo shouted in frustration as Ranma's form blurred by her again. "Fight me like a martial artist, not a ninja!"

The sound of concrete breaking nearby made her jump and flinch away from the sound. It almost sounded like a section of the outer wall had been pulverized down to nothing.

"Come forth and face me, foul sorcerer!" The voice of Kuno shouted from the direction of the destroyed wall, followed closely by a second voice.

"For attacking Akane and making her life hell, I swear to send you to it!" Ryoga's voice followed right behind Kuno's.

The cloud slowly blew away, exposing the lawn and the two fighters that had been in the process of a spar. Ukyo stared blankly at Kuno, who held his boken high above his head, posing as if the Gods demanded it of him, whereas Ryoga had his umbrella open and was getting ready to throw it. Kuno blinked at the two standing in the yard from the hole in the wall, looking between the red pigtailed girl from his school to the bishonen boy fighting her with a huge spatula and came to the only conclusion there could have been.

"But what is this?" Kuno bellowed, leveling his boken at Ukyo. "Can it be that the pig tailed goddess has ensnared another with her heavenly beauty? Tis true! For is not the courtship battle before thou is taken on a date?"

Nabiki and Akane came running into the living room at the shouting from Kuno, wondering what the destruction was when the wall collapsed earlier.

"Nay! I shall not allow this!" Kuno took hold of his boken in both hands as he raised up in front of his chest as if preparing himself for an overhead strike. "For was it not I, Tatewaki Kuno, age 17, who had first challenged the pigtailed goddess for her hand? None shall have the honor of dating her before I! I Strike!"

He charged Ukyo, slashing out with his wooden sword as he tried to fight Ukyo away from Ranma. Ranma, unsure on what this is about, stood back and watched as Ukyo fought the enraged kendoist to a standstill and slowly started to make ground against him.

"Boy, do you have a lot of facts backwards." Ukyo called out as she blocked and countered at Kuno, who was taking a lot more hits than she was, but was somehow fighting on through the pain. "First off, we were in the middle of a spar between just the two of us, so I don't appreciate you getting involved." Ukyo removed several throwing spatulas from the bandoleer and tossed them in Kuno's direction, who had the bad sense of blocking them with his wooden weapon, making them nearly cut through the length of it. "Secondly, that isn't a woman. He's just cursed to look like one."

"Lies!" Kuno shouted back, fighting on in earnest even as his weapon started to make sounds that almost reminded him of something important. "None could cast their evil magic upon one so pure, unless..." Kuno stopped in mid swing, Ukyo doing the same as a light seemed to come on overtop of Kuno's head. "The Fiend!" Lightning flashed in the sky and thunder rolled as Kuno had an epiphany. "He has obviously confused you with his true form and you believed the pigtailed goddess was in fact the evil Saotome! Oh, how I do weep for you, who's mind is too weak to break free from such evil powers."

Ukyo's battle spatula smacked hard into the top of Kuno's head as he posed mightily, his emotions sweeping through him. "Who the hell are you calling weak minded, you jackass?"

"That hurt, you know." Kuno's deadpanned look on his face as he leveled his eyes at her added to the serious he was trying to impress on her of exactly how much pain he was in right then and there.

Ranma, by this time, had come over to Kasumi and accepted the kettle of hot water from her as both he and Ryoga stared at the fighters. "It seems as if Ukyo made a new friend." Kasumi said with a bright smile as she stood upright, Ranma placing the now empty kettle down by her feet on the floorboards.

"I met him out on the street. He said he was looking for someone who could help him with freeing Akane from some powerful 'sorcerer' and seeing as I was trying to get here, I took him up on his offer." Ryoga spoke as he stared at the two before Kuno turned around and pointed with his boken at Ranma.

"At last! Your machinations have been revealed to all and thus you have come to face me in the flesh!" The Tendo's, Ryoga, and Nodoka glanced at the dumbfounded Ranma before looking back at Kuno.

"Are you trying to tell me that you wanted my help to fight Ranma?" Ryoga asked as he held up a hand and pointed at his friend.

"Verily, page." Kuno said as he brushed hair out from in front of his face. "With you to stand in front of me and take the blows meant for my personage, I cannot fail!"

"Excuse me for a moment." Ryoga bowed to the family assembled before him before he turned 180 degrees and charged. "I'll teach you to make fun of me!" Ryoga shouted as he charged through another section of the Tendo wall without slowing, as it a few tons of rock meant nothing to him.

All blinked at the new hole in the wall and Ryoga's sudden disappearance, including Kuno. "Poor man, he appears to be under his own dastardly spell cast by the foul Saotome." Kuno shook his head before charging at Ranma."I have thee!"

Ranma's hand whipped out at Kuno, only for Kuno to fall under the weight of something landing on his head, burying his face into the ground. The sudden "Ooof!" followed by the ricochet off one of the broken sections of the outer wall made everyone try to watch the blur as it bounced from the outer wall, off one of the overhead tree limbs and shoot out toward toward Nodoka with a shouted "Sweeto!"

Ranma stepped in its way a second time, his hands blurring in front of him as he fought a little old man off before being stopped by a smoking pipe that the old man slipped from his dirty brown gi and used as a sword. "You have some skill, m'boy." The old man commented before deftly catching Ranma's wrist with the bend in the pipe and tossing him backwards over his shoulder. "You still got a lot to learn, though."

"What's going on out there?" Soun asked as he came in from the back of the house and the dojo.

"Oh, father, it appears that one of Ranma's friends came to visit him." Kasumi smiled as she looked at her father, though her senses were telling her to keep an eye on the little old man who was standing in the back yard.

"No one's hurt, I hope." Soun looked at the backyard, particularly the walls. To break through the walls of the property took some considerable skill. Maybe they'd want to take lessons of the refined Anything Goes?

"Hello, Soun." an aged voice sent a dread up his back and had him reflexively on his knees, bowing in its general direction.

"Dread Master!" Soun bawled out, hoping his groveling hadn't become too rusty over the years as he dropped to his knees and prostrated himself.

"It's good to see you, too." The old man smiled before fending off the next bout of shots and a stray spatula shuriken shot. "And who are your newest students?" The old man asked as he looked over at Ukyo while batting Ranma away again. "Are they studying your wife's armed combat style?"

"You!" Ukyo came at the old pervert, slashing with her battle spatula only for the old man to hop over her attack.

"They don't have a lot of talent, do they?" Happosai commented idly, throwing the insult casually at her to incite her into a battle frenzy.

"Not a lot of talent?" Ukyo hissed as she reached into her gi top and threw another flour bomb on the ground, causing a smoke screen to blow everywhere in the backyard.

"I don't remember your wife having red hair." Happosai said as he patted Nodoka on her backside where she sat. "I approve of your latest conquest." The old man said happily moments before a katana tried to stake him into the ground. "She's a real spitfire." The old man smiled from the glomp on Nabiki's butt as he nuzzled it through her pants.

Nodoka's blade shifted and blurred, making a slash upwards that would have cut the old man in half had he not bounced away from the nubile young woman and latched himself to the front of Kasumi's chest.

"Your daughters grew up to be fine women." Happosai commented happily as he rubbed his face into Kasumi's bosom. He only had a second to enjoy his spot on Kasumi before a frying pan smacked into his head from above, driving him into the floor. He had to hop backwards away from the sudden thrust of a katana to escape a near fatal strike.

"Happosai!" Cologne called out from the roof edge down into the cloud cover that was currently obscuring the grounds. "Stay away from Ranma!"

"Oh yeah." Happosai's voice called from in the cloud of smoke. "I forgot all about this 'Ranma' you were referring to. The sound of metal on metal reverberated for a brief moment before Ukyo was launched up into the air by the diminutive old man, his pipe held up over his head as he rubbed a bra against his cheek. "Ah, still warm...eh?"

Ranma had appeared from out of the smoke around him, his hands glowing bright blue with a crazed look on his face as he swiped at the old man. Happosai raised his pipe up to block and counter, planning to throw this kid for a lesson when he had to evade as his pipe fell into pieces. Ranma didn't give him a moment as the old man tried to disappear back into the smoke only for Ranma to follow close after.

Using her advanced control of ki, Cologne cooled the air around her and threw it down toward the center of the cloud, watching as the cloud cover dispersed quickly with the sudden downdraft of cold air sucking away the hot air and the smoke with it.

Ranma was shredding everything around him trying to get after Happosai, the bandage around his neck partially cut and whipping around as he lunged after an evading old pervert. He forced more speed out of his legs as he tried to get closer to the evading old man who was starting to worry about his safety.

"Happo Daikarin!" the old man shouted out as he threw several round bundles with short fuses toward Ranma.

Ranma hesitated as they gravitated toward his face before they blew up spectacularly, covering him in the blast.

"Hhmmm," Happosai muttered to himself as he landed on what was left of a section of outer wall, "now why was it that I sealed that technique again?" He crossed one arm and placed a hand to his chin in thought.

As the blast area disappeared, everyone gasped as Ranma was no longer where he should have been. Happosai jumped down from where he had been standing and inspected the ground, looking for traces of the poor kid.

"Didn't think they were _that_ powerful. I _was_ holding back." Happosai muttered once again.

Nodoka was seeing red at this point, the hand that was gripping her sword clenched achingly tight as she saw her son get blown up to nothing. Kasumi felt anger as well, and the bright red aura coming off the frying pan in her hands was a good indication of what her mood was.

Ranma seemed to materialize behind Happosai out of nowhere, his entire body glowing now as a soft growl escaped his lips. Happosai didn't even look behind him as he dodged out of the way of the full arm swing that nearly decapitated him, flipping backwards up and over the glowing boy as he whipped out another explosive.

"Oh, there you are." Happosai said as he tossed the bomb lightly to Ranma. Ranma spun and shredded it into pieces before it could explode, growling slightly louder as he stared down at the old man. "For a second there, I thought I was gonna have to go and console your poor, dear mother." Happosai pulled out a daring pair of lacy underwear that was as naughty as it was skimpy and see through. He rubbed his face on the pair of underwear as Ranma's aura leapt up higher, his nose flaring as he scented the air.

"I FIGHT ON!" Kuno bellowed as he regained consciousness. His reflexes instinctively caught a round package that was tossed to him and he had but a moment to look at the bright fuse on it before it exploded greatly, blasting the insane kendoist off into the sky, a smoke trail following after him.

"Kids should stay quiet when an old man is enjoying the pleasures of life." Happosai said casually as he returned to rubbing his face into the panties. "Ah, how sweet."

"Happosai, if you wish to live a moment longer, I suggest you flee for your life." Cologne called to him from the roof, now too scared to come down from her perch.

Happosai glanced up at her in curiosity. "And why should I do that?"

Cologne pointed back past him. "The boy behind you was trained in the Neko-ken."

Happosai looked over his shoulder at the boy whose aura was beginning to shape itself into a giant feline. Turning back to look at Cologne without a concern for his safety, he asked, "Who in their right mind trained a kid in the Neko-ken?" He jumped, avoiding his horrible demise as Ranma's arms blurred, leaving glowing arches in the air as his ki claws passed through where Happosai had been.

"One of your students." Cologne said as she started praying for Happosai's soul. His soul was going to hell for everything he had done in his life, but she could at least pray that he wasn't sodomized too often.

Happosai landed on the roof of the dojo and turned to face Ranma as he jumped into the air, a yowl coming from the boy's lips as he reared one arm back and prepared to strike again. "Bean-jam Blow-out!" Happosai flared his ki, changing the air temperature as fast as he could to blow the kid back away from him and give him a moment to plan out his next move.

Ranma wobbled in the air for a second before he whipped his hand forward, cutting a pocket of air for him to fall into and nullifying the effects of the attack that was meant to blow him away. Happosai leapt back again to gain a bit of room as Ranma barely made the lip of the roof. Even with just his toes touching, he launched himself at Happosai, one hand dragging across the roof tiles, ripping them to pieces as he bolted for the pervert.

"Behold! A founding technique in the school of Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu!" The old man shouted as he took a large stance, hands held out to either side of his body as he gave Ranma a hard stare. "Extra Dimensional Warp!" He disappeared from sight with a blurring around the edges until he disappeared altogether.

Ranma stopped and sniffed the air as he looked around him, growling in the back of his throat.

"Ha ha ha ha!" Happosai cackled, his voice echoing in the air as if he was someplace both far away and close by. "Let's see if you can find me now, you little whipper snapper..."

Ranma's eyes narrowed before his hands blurred out in every direction as he jumped into the air and began spinning. The wind pressure from his hands combined with the ki claws of the Neko-ken tore the roof into pieces in an instant and forced Happosai to abandon his technique as he jumped out of the attack's way.

"Well," Happosai patted at his forehead with a pair of white underwear with a hello kitty print, dabbing at the sudden sweat on his forehead, "that's a lot of power and speed ya got there, kid." Happosai chuckled weakly as he tried to sidle away before Ranma came at him once again, finding the combination of Neko-ken and martial arts training had made him a bit of a challenge.

"Delinquent!" a very young voice shouted from the back yard followed by, "Happogoensatsu!"

Ranma had leapt into the air at Happosai and was unable to evade the attack that started to suck at his ki, a huge blue torrent whipping away from him and toward the 5 yen piece in the hands of a growing young girl. She shot up almost instantly into her adult form, her yellow dress snapping taut as she grew abruptly into adulthood from her 8 year old form and she groaned audibly when she couldn't absorb anymore. In fact, she had absorbed a bit too much and her ki pathways ached.

Ranma didn't slow down in the least from Hinako's attack, his ki claws going strong as he rushed the old man. Happosai jumped back, avoiding the eviscerating slash and landed on the chest of the now young female that was kneeling down on the ground, trying to fight back the ache racing through her body.

"Thank you, young miss." Happosai said as he cuddled against the bosom of the well endowed woman. "You're a...eh?" Something in the back of his mind twinged in memory as he looked up at the serious face that was staring behind him, her arm holding the coin piece in her hand aimed at Ranma as he leapt at the both of them.

"Happotsurisengaeshi!" Hinako commanded, forcing the gathered energy back through the coin at Ranma. The ki formed a brilliant sphere that caught Ranma unprepared and blasted him back away from them. With the loss of the ki that had been keeping her in her adult form, she reverted back into her 8 year old form.

Happosai fell from the sudden flat chest, impacting hard on his face. A sandaled foot stomped up and down on the back of his head, forcing him to eat dirt.

"You pervert!" Hinako cried out in anger. "Taking advantage of an 8 year old's body! You're worse than a delinquent!"

"Look out!" Cologne called as she jumped down and whisked Hinako out of the way as Ranma returned, slashing down at the prone Happosai. Ranma pulled his hand back to glare at the old creature to see a bomb embedded on his claws before it blew up in his face.

"Your a few hundred years too slow to try and take on ... Yipe!" Happosai cried as Ranma jumped at him once again, his face burnt black from the explosion. This was a bit much for him. All he wanted to do was take up his old residence in Soun's house and start his collection of the silken pretty's, but this boy just wouldn't stay down. He needed to make a get away until it was safe to come back.

"Happogoensatsu!" Hinako called out for a second time, draining more ki away from Ranma. Cologne stood by her, just in case she drained too much from Ranma for a second time. She once again snapped into her adult form from the infusion of Ranma's Neko-ken induced ki, finally getting a stumble from him before he gave chase after Happosai as the old man tried to get away.

Hinako stumbled as her ki pathways maxed again after only a few seconds and started to strain for a second time. She had never managed to drain a person of this much ki before, and Ranma acted as if he didn't feel a thing from her when she tried to drain his battle aura away from him. How much ki did he have?

"How many more times can you do that attack?" Cologne asked the now adult Hinako, tracking Ranma with her eyes.

"If I cast off the energy, I can do it as many times as I want." Hinako eyed the blur glow that was starting to disappear over the roofs.

"Come with me, I need you to drain him a few more times before I can put his collar back on him." Cologne said as she waited for Hinako to disperse her gathered ki. One Happotsurisengaeshi later, little Hinako rode on Cologne's back as they gave chase.

Nodoka, Nabiki, and Kasumi watched as the last two fighters left the grounds before looking at each other. "Did that old pervert...?" Nodoka asked the two children.

Nabiki and Kasumi nodded. "I didn't even feel him... Nabiki commented with a little awe and a little disgust.

"Oh my." Kasumi blushed as she felt her blouse shift against her chest.

Nodoka's eye twitched before she sheathed her weapon. "Soun, we're going to... Soun?" Nodoka looked over at the prone form of the adult Tendo, who had yet to move. Nabiki came over and gave her father a gentle prod with her toe.

"I think he's passed out." Nabiki spoke before shaking her head. He had been doing such a good job of getting a backbone, too.

"Poor father." Kasumi sighed. It had been a traumatizing day for all of them.

"Hopefully Ranma will end the little demon's life before Cologne catches up to them." Nodoka muttered quietly, her hand clenching tightly around the sheath of her family's honor blade. "Let's go change, ladies. Hopefully, Cologne will have returned with Ranma by then."

* * *

"Did you see all that?" Minako asked as she sat back from the monitor, disgusted at the things that little 'thing' had done.

"How is he glowing like that?" Makoto asked as she continued to watch the computer as it continued to focus in on a blurring Ranma as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop.

"He has an evil spirit hanging about him." Rei muttered to herself as she studied Ranma with a critical gaze.

"We can't let that go on!" Usagi shouted as she stood up, gripping one hand in a fist before her as her eyes blazed with righteousness. "Little men running around and groping women are bad enough, but stealing their clothing right off of them is the worst. As warriors of love and justice, I won't stand for that kinda thing!"

"Even if that thing was a youma, would you really want to fight it?" Luna asked, her voice slightly disgusted. "Not only did it hold onto their...uh...and grope their...eh...anyways, It's not a youma and not our responsibility." Luna finished quickly, not wanting to think any longer about where the little pervert had been holding on just moments ago.

"But he's an enemy to all women, and that means he's an enemy of love!" Usagi shouted into the face of her familiar, the wind from her shout blowing the hair and whiskers of the black cat backwards.

"Yeah, but Usagi," Minako scratched the back of her head, "We'd be fighting him in our sailor outfits, right?"

Makoto and Rei seemed to freeze up at that thought, but Usagi wouldn't be dissuaded. "How else are we supposed to fight against such evil?"

"Even transformed, I'm not that fast." Makoto sighed dejectedly.

"There is no way I'm fighting that thing as Sailor Mars." Rei complained, pointing down at the monitor as she stared irately at Usagi.

"But why not?" Usagi whined. "Aren't you all warriors of love and justice?"

"Warriors, yes." Minako said as she stood up and got in the face of their 'leader'. "Dry dreams for trolls like that? Hell No!"

"Eh?" Usagi spoke, not getting the context of the flubbed description.

"Usagi, have you ever looked at our sailor uniforms, I mean, really looked at them?" Rei asked, her arms crossed in front of her.

"Of course, I look at them." Usagi said, a mild blush on her face. "I think they're cute."

Makoto shook her head. "They're white swimsuits with micro mini skirts and ribbons tied in strategic places coupled with a set of boots and gloves."

"What's that got to do with anything? And they're not swimsuits!"

"Look, Odango head! You want us to fight a pervert in something that leaves nothing to the imagination! We'd have to sacrifice one of us just to guarantee hitting him as he'd be all over us in a matter of seconds! Have you been paying any attention to Ami's computer at all?!" Rei shouted, her anger finally out of control

"Waaaaa! Rei's picking on me!" Usagi slumped down onto her knees, tears gushing out from her eyes in huge rainbows.

Ami continued to watch the computer, making sure to record everything.

* * *

She had drained him six times now and he was only beginning to show signs of exhaustion. Ranma barely cleared the gap between one house and the next as he pursued after Happosai, who was making good his escape. The aura around Ranma had destabilized after the fourth ki draining and nearly guttered out after the last one. She didn't know if she would be able to pull any more from him after one more, her ki pathways hurt so badly right now.

Shampoo had joined them not too long ago, mentioning something about stupid duck boy getting lost. Wanting to stop Ranma without hurting him, she waited for the signal from Cologne to move in and subdue him.

"Happogoensatsu!" Hinako called, sweat dotting her forehead as a weak stream of ki came toward her coin, changing her at a much slower pace into her adult form that Cologne couldn't carry. Ranma swayed where he stood, trying to lift one leg up to step forward, but was unable to finish his step and stumbled forward, swooning.

Shampoo jumped in as the last trails of ki wafted toward Hinako, her hand dropping. She caught Ranma in her arms and cradled him to her as he panted, barely conscious. She held him close, rocking him in her arms as she stroked his hair, his eyes closing slowly.

"it's amazing that he still had that much ki in him for being so young." Cologne muttered as she stood next to Hinako, who didn't look to steady on her own, either.

"I'm just glad..." Hinako gasped before continuing, "That he didn't...have more..." It hurt to move, let alone stand up. His ki was potent, and taking too much over and over again had make her ache all over.

"How is he?" Cologne called to Shampoo.

"He still trying to chase small man." Shampoo called back, holding onto Ranma's hands so he didn't try to pull himself after Happosai.

Cologne nodded to her. "Take him back to the Tendo's. Watch over him carefully until I arrive."

Shampoo cradled him at first, but after his weak struggling made her lose her grip a few times, she slung him over her shoulders and held his arms and legs securely before jumping off toward his home. Cologne stared off after the disappearing Happosai, wondering when the tiny pervert would return.

"Does this...happen often...around him?" Hinkao panted, swallowing as she felt her knees weaken.

"This isn't the first time where things have quickly gone out of control, if that is what you're asking." Cologne sighed as she looked up at the shape changing woman. "Are you going to be alright? You've taken in a lot of his ki..."

Hinako nodded slowly. "It's not too often that I have to drain one person over and over again, it's just that his ki was a bit more than I usually take in at once..."

"Do you want to burn the last of it off?" Cologne wondered what caused the person to shape change as she did. Was it some sort of ki based disease? Or did her body simply react to someone else's ki, triggering the change...

"I think..." She groaned as she straightened up from her slumped over stance, "I'll just let it wear off. It never stays longer than an hour or two. I'll go home and to bed, then wake up tomorrow morning as myself again..."

Cologne nodded. Even she wished she had retained some of her height when she had been younger. Age wasn't all that bad, but the shrinking had been. "I'll help you down then. Will you need any help getting home?"

Hinako shook her head. "I'll find a business and hail a taxi from it. It'll be the quickest way of finding my way home." Cologne jumped onto her staff and took hold of Hinako before jumping down, placing her on the street.

"I will say my farewells from here, then." Cologne eyed the woman before getting ready to leave. "If you don't have to be around Ranma, I would suggest for your own sake to not be around him. From the look of you, you're not much of a martial artist, and your skills with ki absorption none withstanding, you could get hurt being around him. There are many people that are looking to hurt the poor boy. More than should ever be on a person." Cologne pogo'ed off, back up the rooftops and off toward the Tendo dojo.

Hinako watched the aged woman move speedily across the rooftops of Nerima and thought hard before turning around and heading for the nearest intersection to get her bearings. She wasn't sure what to make of Ranma, and her home counseling session she was intending on starting never happened. He had tried to attack an old man, but watching the old man glomp any pretty girl within child bearing age had forgiven her jump in assumptions.

She wondered what the old goat had done to set Ranma off to create such a huge aura around him. She had tried once earlier today to drain him and nothing, but now he had ki to spare and then some. She wondered briefly how long his ki would last, then decided it didn't really matter.

She did think about the old man for a brief moment, a fleeting thought of her in a hospital when she had been young passed her mind's eye before she shrugged it away. She was fairly sure she had never dealt with anyone so perverted in her life, but then again, she dealt with a lot of teenagers coming into the time of their hormones, so who was to say?

She did know one thing. She had her work cut out for her if this kind of thing happened around him very often.

* * *

Her brother was out looking for her Ranma-sama. She wouldn't let his warped path of the samurai code of honor sully the greatness that was her Ranma-sama. If she had to go against her kith and kin, she would do so, if reluctantly. Ranma-sama was the only man who could complete her in ways that made her burn with a feeling of love she hadn't felt in years, and she would be thrice damned if her own dear brother tried to take that love from her.

Kodachi jumped from one roof to another as she headed through Nerima, searching for her brother. She didn't know exactly where he was headed, and he had taken the family retainer, Sasuke, with him, so learning where he had gone was nearly impossible. She would have followed immediately after had it not been for retrieving her ribbon, which had mysteriously disappeared.

Leaping across from rooftop to another, her dark leotard with the trademark rose embroidered to the side of her stomach, she had no laughter to announce her coming. Indeed, she suspected her brother may have had something to do with her ribbon going missing, which meant an active desire to sabotage her love life.

She wouldn't stand for it! She had to beat that trollop, the peasant Tendo Akane, to free her Ranma-sama from the girl's grasp, only to find out that it had never been hers to give in the first place. The elder and more sneaky of the sisters Tendo, Nabiki, was in actuality the possessor of Ranma's heart. If she had to fight through every Tendo in the world to prove her worth for her Ranma-sama, she would...

Her thoughts were derailed as a purple haired amazon landed nearby, carrying the object of her affections. The woman gave her a curious stare as both came to a stop before she jumped past Kodachi and headed onward with Ranma.

"Foreign devil!" Kodachi shouted as she reached somewhere on her person where something couldn't be held at and pulled forth her ribbon. "Unhand my Ranma-sama!" She lashed the ribbon forward, aiming for the girl's legs.

Shampoo landed and gave a small hop to avoid the ribbon as the tip bit into the tiles and cracked the one it smacked into. "What you try do?" Shampoo shouted back at Kodachi, as she laid Ranma down to the side and turned to face the crazed gymnast. "You no stop Shampoo." She reached behind her as well and pulled out her bonbori, reaching into that place where ki and chi intermingle.

"I will prevent you from taking my Ranma-sama from me." Kodachi hissed venomously. "You can't have him. He's Mine!" She lashed her ribbon once again forward, this time free with her choice of targets as Ranma was laid to the side and out of her strike zone.

Shampoo jumped over the lashing ribbon as it snaked out and made another roof tile crack and break into pieces. She flipped in the air, aiming her kick at the gymnast as Kodachi flicked her ribbon back and caught the purple haired girl's attack with her ribbon before slinging her over her shoulder and away from Ranma.

Both took offensive stances, measuring their opponents carefully before reaching out to strike at each other once again. Shampoo rushed her, taking the scratch the ribbon caused on her upper left arm as she batted the ribbon off slightly with her bonbori before lunging across the gaps between the houses and making the fight a close range battle.

Kodachi reeled in her ribbon one handed as she reached for her clubs and began to parry the strikes of the purple haired amazon warrior. She managed to put it away and reach for a second and third club as Shampoo smashed the first club between her bonbori, forcing her to drop the stub. The battle became more intense as Kodachi defended both Shampoo's kicks and weapon strikes with her own gymnastics skills, rolling out of the way, leaping above the leg sweeps and parrying the bonbori strikes.

They broke apart, panting for air from the rapid fire attacks as they glared at each other, both of them preparing to attack again when Cologne landed inbetween them, giving them both a hard gaze. "Shampoo, I thought I told you to take Ranma home." Cologne chastised her great grand daughter as she looked over at the gymnast in a considering manner.

"Crazy woman attack, she no go away, leave Ranma alone." Shampoo's halting Japanese holding her anger and frustration at being interrupted and now being accused of being a slacker.

"I will not allow you to take him off to your abode! Ranma-sama does not wish to go with you." Kodachi reached back, putting her clubs away into wherever she held them on herself and removed her ribbon once again.

Cologne sighed greatly. Today was turning into one big nuisance after another. "We weren't trying to take him to our home, but to his own. He needs his rest, not for the two of you to fight a needless fight over him."

Kodachi eyed them carefully before standing upright slowly. "Indeed." She didn't trust these foreigners one bit, but she wasn't about to fight in Ranma-sama truly did need rest. "If that is the case, then I will aid you in protecting him as you take him to his abode." Not only would she keep an eye on them, but she would learn where her love lived at, killing two birds with one stone.

"Aiyah! Great Grandmother! Ranma gone!" Shampoo called, bringing the older woman and the gymnast to her to where she had laid Ranma down at.

Cologne growled in her throat. "He must have had some energy return to him while you were fighting." She gave both Kodachi and Shampoo a withering stare that made both of them shiver. "We need to find him, at once."

Shampoo gave Kodachi a hostile stare before nodding and bounding off, beginning her search for Ranma.

"You, little girl, will help us find him." Cologne poked Kodachi in the shoulder, her eyes boring into the girl's own.

"Of course, I will search for Ranma-sama, but I will do so on my own, and not at your orders." She turned and jumped away from Cologne, not giving a second look back at the old woman as she began her own searches.

Cologne sighed and shook her head. "As if dealing with Happosai wasn't bad enough..."

* * *

"Wait, pull over." Hinako called to the driver from the back seat. The taxi pulled over slowly until it came to the stop as far over as it could. Leaning up against a wall as he pushed himself upright was Ranma, dirt covered but alone. "Ranma!" Hinako called to him, watching as he wavered slightly where he stood. She made to open the door, but the cabbie called out to her.

"If you're getting out, that'll be 11,550 yen." The man said as he placed the vehicle into park.

Hinako muttered, reaching into the pockets of her one piece dress that barely covered her adult form and pulled out a small change purse before handing over the necessary bills and change. She got out of the vehicle and hurried over to Ranma, helping him to his feet as the taxi began to drive off, even though she began to call after it to hold up.

"Men." Hinako darkly muttered as the taxi drove away, leaving her and Ranma on their own. She looked down at the tired face of her student with a hard stare. "It's your fault, you know." Ranma didn't answer as she carried him along, helping him hobble down the street.

She looked around the street. "Are you heading for the Tendo dojo?" Hinako asked him as she stared around, unsure how to get there from here. She looked down at Ranma, who didn't answer her. "Hey, I'm talking to you."

"Gotta protect the girls..." Ranma muttered weakly, his eyelids half open. "Gotta protect them..." He stumbled hard, nearly dragging Hinako down on top of him when his legs didn't lift as he tried to step forward.

"You're in no condition to help anyone right now." Hinako muttered to herself as she helped him back to his feet. She looked down the street at her apartment building before looking down at Ranma and sighing. "This is such a bad idea." she muttered again before half carrying, half dragging Ranma to her apartment.

She took almost an hour guiding Ranma with her into the building and up the two flights of stairs to her place. She had to keep him propped up against her, every time she went to lean him against the wall, he'd try to walk away from her. She got him to lay down on her couch, where he fought to stay conscious as she reached for her phone and Ranma's school paperwork that she had copied for her assessment for his therapy. The sooner she called the Tendo's on Ranma's whereabouts, the faster she could get him home.

* * *

Kasumi hummed quietly in the kitchen as she made dinner for tonight, Nodoka helping her out as they worked their frustrations out from the perversions the old man had done to them. Nabiki had returned to her room, working over the household budget and figuring out how much it would cost to repair two holes in the wall instead of one. She was the closest to the hall as the phone rang from the foyer.

"I'll get it." Kasumi called out as she walked over to the phone and picked the headset up. "Hello, Tendo Residence."

"Good evening, It's Hinako Ninomiya." The adult voice came through the headset, the voice a bit strained. "I came earlier to help Ranma, but I had to drain off his ki instead."

"Oh, yes." Kasumi smiled brightly. "Did you and Elder Cologne find Ranma?"

Hinako's voice dimmed a little as she did something on the other side of the line that sounded a bit like struggling before coming back fully. "That's what I wanted to call you about. We were able to subdue Ranma and the women were supposed to be coming back with him, but I found him by himself in the street."

"Oh, dear, I hope nothing happened to them." Kasumi frowned thoughtfully as she hoped nothing bad did occur.

"I'm not sure." Hinako's voice faded partly as more struggling was heard on the other side of the phone before she came back, her voice irritated. "How do you make him stop?"

Kasumi didn't understand what she was talking about for a moment before she heard Hinako call Ranma by name before her voice faded out again. "Are you ok? Is Ranma ok?"

Hinako sighed as the sound of the phone rubbing up against her head scratched in her ear. "I can't get him to stop trying to get up. Do you know any way to calm him down?"

Kasumi bit her lip for a moment, thinking on what she could do. "Could you...could you put the phone near his ear?" There was a moment's hesitation on the other end before she could barely hear Ranma mumbling on the other end. "Ranma?" Kasumi called into the phone, hearing him move around. "Ranma, can you hear me?"

The sounds stopped for a moment before there was something rubbing against the other end. "Kasumi?" Ranma sounded tired to her, which made her heart ache.

"Yes, Ranma. It's me." Kasumi wanted to know if he was alright, but he sounded barely conscious.

"Is he gone?" Ranma asked, confusing her for a moment. "The old pervert. Is he gone?"

"Oh." Kasumi realized what he was talking about, embarrassment flushing her cheeks. "He hasn't come back, Ranma. I think you scared him off."

Ranma sighed deeply into the phone. "That's good..." he murmured before he went silent.

"Ranma?" Kasumi called to him, getting a bit worried.

"Thank you, Tendo-san." Hinako's voice came back over the phone. "What ever it was you told him, he fell asleep almost instantly."

"It was no problem." Kasumi was still a bit worried about him, even if he was resting. "Do you need someone to come get him?"

"I'm afraid that would inconvenience both your family and him." Hinako sounded a bit irked, but explained. "I live nearly on the other end of Nerima. You'd either have to take a bus, a taxi, or walk all night to get to my apartment and back to your house. No, I'll take him to school with me in the morning, if it's not too much of a bother."

"You're very considerate, Ms. Hinako." Of course it was a bother. Ranma wasn't home where he belonged, and he was at a house with another woman, even if it was his teacher. "Please, take good care of him." Or someone was going to be punished...

"In that case, good night, Ms. Tendo. And thank you once again..." Hinako hung the phone up, allowing Kasumi to do the same on her end before she walked back into the kitchen, taking up the cutting at the cutting board as Nodoka stepped over to the fridge to get a few more ingredients.

"Who was on the phone, dear?" Nodoka asked, her head in the fridge.

"That young lady, Ms. Hinako from school." Kasumi answered automatically as her hands started cutting on auto-pilot, though she was being a bit harder with the cutting than necessary. "She said that Ranma was at her place, and that she would be taking care of him for the night."

The thump and grumble from the fridge didn't dissuade Kasumi from her cutting, even when Nodoka closed the fridge with the ingredients in hand. "You mean he's staying the night at her house?" Nodoka eyed Kasumi as she placed the ingredients down before rubbing the back of her head.

"It would seem so, she apparently lives across town." Kasumi finished the last cut with force, actually having to pull the knife free from the cutting board before she could lift and scrape the ingredients into the cooking pot.

Nodoka sighed, prompting Kasumi to look at her and begin to placate the mother before Nodoka spoke with enthusiasm, "My son is So Manly!" Little sparkles in her eyes seemed to jump into the air at the thought of grand children.

Kasumi sweat dropped.

* * *

**WooHoo! Finito! Chapter Completed! Now on to the next one... grumbles  
**


	18. Desire

**I tried getting the extra 300 words to make this chapter my bare minimum, but I just couldn't make make it. I feel so cheap and nasty now...**

**Disclaimer: I devour your hate and make it my own, then turn it against Ranma in this story. Obviously, this isn't Canon Ranma, or this story would be very different.**

**Warning: There is lime rinds laying around. Lots of sexual frustration has been written here at the end, and I am too lazy to identify where it is to shield your virgin eyes from it. You have been warned.**

* * *

She woke up slowly, letting reality slowly come back to her. She felt tired, but that was how she always felt when just waking up. Coffee really helped to get things started for her, it was one of the few blessings Kami had given her. Right now, she didn't want to get up, no matter how loud her alarm clock was. Reaching over, she flipped the switch to off and turned over, pulling the covers with her as she laid in the warmth.

Yesterday had been a whole lot different from what she had planned out. As Ranma's teacher, she had expected a normal household with a normal family with one slightly abnormal kid who could change genders when a temperature change with water was applied. Kinda weird, but when you live in the body of an 8 year old half of the time, nothing you haven't seen before.

Her mind drifted back over to her first moments entering the Tendo household, of the fight Ranma was in with a lawn gnome with a penchant for groping. Yeah, she had jumped the gun again, maybe she had a penchant for targeting boys first, but being nearly 20 and never having a boyfriend because of her body tended to do that to a person.

She rolled over again, trying to find that comfortable spot she had fallen asleep in, her nose catching the faint smells of breakfast coming from her kitchen. Her awareness snapped to the fore as she sat up in bed and reached for her yen coin on the nightstand, knocking a few to the floor in haste before she finally stood up. She held the bed sheet to her body as she moved toward the closed bedroom door, unsure what she would find once she opened the door, but she wasn't taking any chances.

Throwing the bedroom door open, she held her yen coin in front of her with the command phrase on her lips to suck away the ki energy of whoever was in her house. She didn't see anyone in her living room and peeking around the corner into the kitchen didn't show anyone being there, either. Confused, she nudged the bathroom door open, still unable to find anyone inside of her apartment. Sure that there was no one in her place, she dropped her hand and walked into the kitchen, looking at the meal prepared for her on the table along with a note.

Picking the note up, she read over it briefly before putting it down next to the food. Apparently, Ranma had prepared this meal for her before heading out maybe a few minutes ago, the food still had a little steam rising from it. She tossed her coin onto the tabletop before sitting down in her seat, rubbing her face with her hand as she recalled that Ranma had been forced to stay here for the night.

She shook her head ruefully before getting up and walking over to the coffee pot, only to get her second shock for the morning. As she reached for the coffee cups in her cupboard, she stopped and looked at her hand before looking down at herself. She was still in her adult form, something that had never happened before when she had woken up. She looked herself over carefully, checking for any reason why she would be in her adult form before feeling for the extra ki that would be in her system from a draining.

She felt it almost immediately, not as potent as it had been before, but definitely still there. The was starting to ebb, finally, and it wasn't straining her own internal pathways as it had yesterday, which was a relief for her. She wondered if there was something special about his ki that made it as strong as it did, or if there was another reason, like draining him down nearly seven times yesterday.

Sipping her miso, she put off all thought at the taste of her breakfast, giving it a surprised eye."It's good." She murmured to herself, having another one of her own assumptions about men turned on its head. Looking one last time around the apartment. "Where did you go to, Ranma Saotome?"

* * *

Kasumi had gotten up early, checking Ranma's room first before heading down to the kitchen to begin making breakfast. Nodoka had shifted where she was resting, but Ranma's bedroll had never been taken from the closet, and it didn't look like it had been moved from there since the phone call, meaning Ranma had either come home last night and slept in the dojo, or had not come home at all.

Nodoka had joined her soon enough, though, when the sun finally graced the skies and they worked back and forth in the kitchen, making a healthy breakfast for everyone in the house. Kasumi wished that Ranma would be here to eat her meals, she had come to miss him, even though he was only going to be gone just for one night.

She liked the thought that she could take care of Ranma, giving her a warm feeling near her heart when she watched him practicing in the dojo with her. He was so gentle, helping her out without ever asking her if she needed it, simply doing it. She had wondered if he was simply doing it because of how his father had raised him, but she caught him one time trying to clean for her without her noticing. It wasn't much and he was trying to do it without being observed, the fact that he was doing it made it that much more touching to her.

"Aunt Nodoka." Kasumi spoke as they were gathering the plates and bowls together to bring out to the table.

"Yes, Kasumi chan?" Nodoka answered as she sipped the miso, smiling as she started to ladle the morning soup into the first of the bowls.

"Why did you mean about Ranma being so manly last night?" Kasumi asked, curious as to the possibility of what her mother-in-law thought was normal.

Nodoka got an absent look on her face as her hands slowed till they stopped moving. "Isn't it wonderful?" Nodoka sounded almost pleased as her eyes sparkled with an internal light. "He's spending the night at an older woman's house. He'll be coming back with all sorts of grand kids soon enough."

Kasumi full body twitched at grand kids, and her smile almost slipped as she strained to hold it on her face. "Do you mean to say that you don't care who Ranma sleeps with?"

Nodoka seemed to come out of whatever daze she was in as she smiled weakly to Kasumi before getting back to loading breakfast onto the tray in front of her. "Oh, I would love for Ranma to marry one of you girls, but he is too much man for any one woman, I'm afraid." Nodoka shook her head as she lifted the tray and headed for the living room. "No, he'll simply have to have many mistresses. A grandmother has to have many grand babies, after all."

Kasumi couldn't move from where she stood, the smile on her face looking as if it was pieced together, taped, glued, and together, making it look rickety and not very convincing. She was the homemaker, therefore she had to keep a happy smile on her face, no matter how idiotic that dream sounded to her. Picking up the rest of breakfast, she followed Ranma's mother out into the living room.

* * *

Breakfast was a quiet affair, except when Nabiki came down from her bedroom looking like death warmed over. A light sheen of sweat was on her brow and she looked even more out of it than she did when waking up before. She had never been a morning person, but it was obvious that she had come down with something.

"Nabiki dear, you look terrible." Nodoka commented to the middle daughter, who sniffled lightly.

Nabiki slowly ate her toast slowly, not really hungry, but knowing she needed to put something on it or she wouldn't be awake enough for school.

"Nabiki," Soun spoke gently as he crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, giving his best wise man pose, "If your sick, maybe you should stay home for the day."

"Can't." Nabiki muttered, her eyes drooping. "Gotta go to school." She had money to collect for the day, not to mention the betting pools she needed to start for next week. Money didn't just make itself, ya know.

"Look, Nabiki, you shouldn't push yourself." Akane said as she placed a hand on her sister's shoulder.

"As nice as that sounds," Nabiki cleared her throat before she drank some of her tea and began to stand, "It's got to be done." She grabbed her bag and headed out the door, not wanting to hear their concern any longer than she needed to.

Everyone watched as Nabiki left before Akane stood up. "I'll keep an eye on her. See you later, everyone."

Nodoka finished her meal up next before she stood as well. "I've been called in for some time at the hospital, so I'll be gone for a few days." Nodoka bowed to Kasumi and Soun. "If Nabiki should become worse, please send her over immediately. I'll make sure to take of her."

Kasumi cleaned up the plates as Soun sat and read his newspaper before heading off to the scheduled council meeting. Kasumi looked up and out the back window of the kitchen, thinking about what Nodoka had said about multiple women and grand kids. The thought of Ranma staying with his teacher last night made her worry about him, but she knew that Ranma wouldn't do such a thing with him, but there was no telling what this Hinako Ninomiya would do.

She thought briefly back to when Hinako had called her and her comment about making him stop. Maybe she had tried coming on to him and he had reacted. Maybe during his time with his father that he had been used in a sexual way to feed their stomachs, or at least, the father's stomach. he was a prime example of man dressed in his Chinese clothing, after all.

Kasumi's frying pan snapped into existence in her hand unconsciously, her eyes narrowing. If she had bedded Ranma before her...

* * *

Ranma was waiting outside the school gates as Akane and Nabiki approached. He had hidden when his teacher, Ms. Hinako, had gone inside. Waking up in her apartment had set his nerves on edge, but he had done the polite thing for letting him stay the night to rest at her house, though he didn't remember getting there in the first place. He had nearly freaked out when his sensitive ears picked up the sound of Hinako waking up in her bedroom and had escaped into the bathroom only to shimmy out the small window above the onsen.

Akane noticed Ranma first and nudged Nabiki who looked up weakly before dropping her head and continued walking toward him. Ranma's eyes narrowed as he watched Nabiki nearly stumble once or twice before the Tendo sisters stopped in front of him.

"Nice to see you can make it." Akane spoke, though there was a slight edge in her voice. She wasn't happy about being turned away at the hospital last night, just as Nabiki said she would. "Heard you slept out at someone else's house."

Ranma nodded absently as he continued to scrutinize Nabiki.

Akane's eyes narrowed when she realized he wasn't really paying a whole lot of attention to her, but she decided it wasn't as important as Nabiki's health was. "She's been like that since this morning. Seemed kinda sudden, if you asked me."

"No one's asking you." Nabiki snipped at her sister. She was not in the mood to be coddled, especially by Akane.

"Nabiki." Ranma spoke quietly as he approached her, lifting a hand to place on her shoulder, which she quickly intercepted and pushed away.

"I'm fine." Nabiki muttered half heartedly as she walked past Ranma and into the school grounds.

"Nabiki, you shouldn't be pushing yourself. You're really going to get sick." Akane tried one last time to talk some sense into her sister.

"Butt out, Akane." Nabiki snapped harder this time. Maybe if she was the Ice Queen she had perfected over the years, her sister would take a hint for once.

Akane huffed and crossed her arms in front of herself. "Fine, Nabiki. You wanna be the tough girl, go right ahead and get sick for all I care." Akane ran off from Ranma and past Nabiki as she headed to the homeroom for attendance, not wanting to be late for a change.

Ranma stayed where he was, watching as Nabiki walked away, his eyes narrowed and frown deepening.

* * *

That kid had nearly put a hurt on him something fierce. If it wasn't for all the groping and the panties he had filched before stopping at the Tendo's, the kid may have wore him down. Happosai sat down on a rooftop somewhere in Nerima, smoking from his pipe as he planned his next move.

The kid was trained in the Neko-ken, which usually never was a problem. Usually, the practitioner of the Neko-ken was easily distracted, since he fought as a cat, meaning that balls of yarn, cat nip, and things like that should stop the user cold, since they literally thought they were cats. This kid with the pigtail, this Ranma, was way different from all that.

Muttering to himself, he wondered if the kid was Soun's, and if so, his disciple was really going to get it.

"Still," Happosai muttered as he scratched his chin in thought, "even though he was using the Neko-ken, there was a few moments where he used Musabetsu Kakuto..." He thought about it for a second before dismissing it. "Best left for another time, when I got lots of girls and even more Sake."

Reaching into his gi, he pulled out his brochure on Nerima and began to leaf through it before coming the to page he had previously highlighted. "Now then, how to find this Furinkan High School..."

* * *

Ranma wasn't paying any attention to Yuka and Sayuri, though they didn't mind in the least bit. He watched as Nabiki handled her business during lunch and made arrangements for the next bet or loan before writing it down in a small note pad she never let go of, even for a moment. Even so, she looked even worse than she had this morning.

There were rings under her eyes now, and her hair was a mess. Disheveled and looking as if she was about to fall asleep at any moment, Ranma watched her as she seemed to fade in between sentences before coming to and making arrangements or collecting money. Sometimes, there was no money collected at all, which Ranma had never seen her let slide before during his time here, just a brief notation in her pad and she was on to the next deal.

"Hey, Ranma?" Sayuri pulled at Ranma's sleeve, getting a grunt from the pigtailed boy as he continued to stare at Nabiki. "How is Akane? We've heard that she's still interested in that doc Tofu guy."

Ranma frowned at the name of that person. "She said something this morning about trying to go see him. Something about not being able to see him."

Yuka frowned. "Typical Akane. She'll go and get herself hurt because of her obsessions."

Sayuri nodded. "I just wish there was something we could do to to make her see reason."

Ranma didn't say or do anything that would agree or disagree with that thought. Watching as Nabiki finished up whatever transactions she had for this period, she got up and headed back inside, though very slowly for her. Ranma waited for her to go inside before he ehaded off after her.

Yuka and Sayuri watched as Ranma walked off back inside of the school before moving next to each other. "Do you think there's something wrong with Ranma?" Yuka asked her friend.

Sayuri shrugged. "Not sure, though there was a teacher looking for him this morning, I think they said her name was Ms. Hinako or something."

They both hummed to themselves as they debated how true that information was.

"Ya think he got in trouble with her or something?" Sayuri asked, as she sipped from her juice box.

"I think I heard about her." Yuka placed her chopsticks to her lips as she tilted her head to the side. "She's that teacher who changes in between an 8 year old that turns into the adult. I think she's in his home room or something."

"You don't think she wants Ranma too, do you?" Sayuri asked her friend, trying to look her in the eyes.

"What woman at this messed up school doesn't?" Yuka asked, finishing her meal before placing her chopsticks back in her bento and closed the box.

* * *

They had nearly made it to the end of the day without one insane event happening. Tehy had gone nearly the last period of peace and quiet that Furinkan had ever experienced. There had been no rants or protestations in poetics, not challenges for the hand of Akane or the pigtailed girl. Heck the chem club hadn't blown themselves up all day trying to create something to help them win Akane over in their attempts to woo her.

Many thought the end of the world was about to occur until the outraged cry of many young girls came from the gym side of the school. Heads stuck themselves out of the hallway windows to peer down toward the gymnasium as the thunderous sound of many people started to echo their way back up toward the classrooms.

"Waa, ha, ha, ha, ha! What a Haul! What a Haul!" cried the aged form of a bounding jolly old man with a sack strapped his back. The midget renegade Santa skipped merrily down the hallway with the happiest grin on his face as he stayed ahead of the girls he had stolen their undergarments from while they had been in the changing room, getting ready to go home.

Ranma's head snapped around toward the hall from his seat, not willing to pay attention to the havoc going on around him until he heard the familiar sound of the old pervert as he made his conquest run.

"better luck next time, kiddies! Thanks for the goodies!" Happosai cackled back at those chasing after him.

The old man dodged by sheer instinct as a fist swept through where he would have been bounding. Flipping around to see who had the skill to nearly connect with an attack, he watched as the pigtailed youth turned around to glare hatefully at Happosai.

"Well, well, I never imagined that you'd be here." Happosai muttered as he reached into his gi for his pipe in all haste. There wasn't going to be any holding back on this one.

"You heard Kasumi." Ranma's hands clenched themselves into fists. "You hurt Nabiki." Ranma's eyes narrowed to slits as he glared hate at the little pervert. "You hurt Kaa-san!"

Happosai jumped through the window as Ranma leapt at Happosai, gouging the floor out with his fist where the old man had been standing. Making a hasty exit, Happosai ducked into a bunch of shrubs and subdued his battle aura as Ranma jumped out and landed nearby, looking around for him. Growling in his throat, Ranma ran off around the building, hoping to catch the old man before he got away again.

Sighing to himself, Happosai walked out from the bushes. "That kid is way too emotional for his own good." Happosai muttered as he pulled out a black daring pair of lacy underwear from his gi that he kept right next to his heart. "Still, his mom is one sexy lady."

Happosai hopped a foot in front of him, easily missing the mallet as it tried to spike him into the ground.

"Hold still, you pervert!" Akane shouted as she reared back her mallet, intending on turning him into a spot on the horizon.

"Little kids should respect their elders." Happosai taunted as he spun his pipe in his hand. Akane came charging in with a battle cry and swung for the fences, unfortunately Akane wasn't prepared to have her moved countered by the short man and flung into the wall of Furinkan with the force of a wrecking ball.

Putting away his pipe, he hopped over to the unconscious girl and patted around her chest area before making a disgusted face. "What is it with this district? Are all men walking around dressed as women? It's almost as bad as being back in China..."

"You!" Ranma shouted as he came back around the corner bleeding blue aura around him in wisps.

"Oh oh, time to go!" Happosai hopped off as Ranma landed just long enough to shake Akane back to semi consciousness before jumping after the old pervert.

* * *

Nabiki wasn't staying around for the fun. She had heard that shriveled up old prune of a letch had appeared in the girl's locker room and had run off with every undergarment he could get his greedy little paws on, though why he had left the girls with their gym shorts on instead of stripping them bare, Kami only knew.

As she walked out into the front of the school, Ranma and the old letch gave around the schoolyard side, the old pervert trying to get away from an enraged Ranma. "Give it up, M'boy." Happosai was calling back to Ranma, "You can't catch me, and you can't stop me either!"

"There's the little pervert!" came a cry from the other corner of the building as many outraged females came into sight bearing weapons of every description as they charged at Happosai, who was running right at them to get away from Ranma. "Make sure he doesn't get away!"

Nabiki watched the train wreck as the two forces ran into each other. Happosai blew through the girls, copping a feel or flipping a skirt as he went. Ranma was slowed down by the mass of bodies as he tried to dodge around or jump over the girls who were trying to hide their modesty from the old man as he zipped by.

"Die, Pervert!" Akane shouted, wielding her mallet once again as she came around the same corner the girls had come around, catching Happosai off guard as he caught himself in mid hop and jumped upward instead.

Akane swung hard down for the ground, still trying to turn the pervert into toe jam, only to not feel her weapon hit the pervert or the ground on her swing. Opening her eyes, she looked to her hands to see her weapon had been taken from her. Hearing a meaty thwack, she looked up to see the old man had used her own weapon against Ranma, who apparently couldn't avoid the strike.

"Weapon users, pfeh." Happosai made a disgusted sound as he let go of the mallet. "The only thing they know how to do is to swing around blindly till they hit something."

"What?!" Akane shouted in anger. "I'll have you know I'm the heir of Tendo Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu, you shriveled up pervert!"

Happosai's eyebrow raised up at the announcement. "Unless you're the heir of Soun's school, you'll never have a chance against me." He glanced over his shoulder at the boy with the mallet in the back of his head before looking back at Akane.

Akane shouted her outrage as she drew her fist back and charged. Happosai saw it coming in slow motion, the attack might as well have mailed it's intent that it was coming with a hay maker that would rattle a 12 story gargantuan's teeth three months in advance as far as he was concerned. Soun had really let his students slip if this was the heir to his school.

Akane felt something strike and shouted out in victory before she realized that whatever she hit was still stuck on the end of her fist. Opening her eyes and bringing her fist down in front of her face, she saw that a ball shaped firecracker was glued to her hand. She shook her hand as hard as she could, trying to fling it from where it was latched, before cupping it with her hand and trying to pull it free, blowing her up.

Happosai sat on the mallet, smoking his pipe in peace and quiet, shaking his head back and forth as the smoking Akane appeared from the smoke, standing slightly singed and pieces of her clothes burnt, her eyes dazed out of it.

"I can see we're going to have to work on the fundamentals, boy." Happosai said as he tipped his pipe over, letting the burning ash land on the back of Ranma's back.

He hopped up and away with a "Hyoh!" before Ranma jumped to his feet and cursed loudly, trying to reach the spot on his back where he'd been burnt at.

"Ready for Round 2, m'boy?" Happosai asked as he patted his legs down for any dirt that may have accumulated on him.

Ranma took a step forward when he saw something out of the corner of his eyes that made him hesitate. Looking over to the open doorway of the school, Nabiki was sitting against the door frame, her eyes closed and her breathing heavy. Glaring hatefully at the old pervert, he leapt from the fight over to Nabiki, kneeling down to check on her.

"Eh?" Happosai commented weakly, wondering what was going on. They were having the fight of the century and the kid just quits?

"Nabiki." Ranma called as he shook her shoulder. She murmured something incoherent with all the people still complaining about the old pervert, and Ranma leaned in closer to hear her. Frowning when he heard her still mumbling, he picked her up bridal style in his arms and sent a glare at the old goat before running out of the school yard.

Happosai was stunned into inaction. He was having the best time of his life chasing down girls, stealing underwear, and fighting for his life, and the kid left him? Was this for real? Had he not been stunned into inaction, he might have gotten away when the girls realized the pervert wasn't moving and they beat him into a sticky pulp.

* * *

She didn't know where she was at this point.

She had watched the fight between Ranma and the pervert that had stolen her panties off of her even though she had been wearing tight fitting pants to show her butt off to Ranma. She wasn't sure if she liked Ranma for his body or ... well ... who was she kidding? He had a great body, and a butt she could bounce 5 yen coins off of.

Then things had gotten dizzy for her, and she figured she'd just sit down for a moment and watch Ranma teach that stupid old letch a thing or two, maybe three or four just for good measures. She just needed to close her eyes for a bit, she was just tired is all.

There had been a moment where she thought she was being carried off somewhere. She didn't know where she was going, but whoever had her wasn't stopping for anyone and was making her feel like she was flying. Maybe she really was, reality didn't seem real at that moment.

She was laid down someplace warm, too warm. She needed to get out of her clothes but she was too tired and she didn't want to move. Flying had its moments, but the up and down motion had irritated her stomach. Whatever she had been placed against while flying had kept her from throwing up. There had been a rhythmic beat that calmed her stomach as she focused only on the sound it made.

Darkness had swooped in over and over again, her eyes wouldn't focus on anything while she was awake, and there was the feel of worry around her, and at one point, the taste of something wet and salty had been on her lips, but she fell back into sleep before too long.

She dreamed about a lot of things. She dreamed she was young again, and her mother was still alive, doing the things mother's do, things she always found tedious and boring. She dreamed how her father had been teaching the family art and he looked happy, passing on what he taught not only to Akane, but to Kasumi and herself, when she had practiced the art. She dreamed of the last night her mother had been alive in the house, when she was too sick to do anything anymore, but be around for her daughters who weren't ready to be big girls.

She fell out of that nightmare and into a different dream, a current one, one she wished would happen to her. Her eyes opened to her bedroom, she was laying in bed with a long t-shirt on, not something she would normally wear, but there was something else that distracted her from the thought of why she was wearing it.

There was an arm wrapped around her waist, and a body laying up against hers. It wasn't one of her sisters, she had slept with Kasumi the few nights after her mother died, and many nights after that with Akane crying herself to sleep in her own bed. No, this body didn't have the necessary curves and give to it that a woman's body had. She looked down at the arm before following it back to the person that was holding her, feeling butterflies taking flight in her stomach.

He laid asleep in her bed with her, his chest bare as he laid against her. His face was almost close enough to kiss, and oh how she wanted to kiss those lips. Pinpricks of pleasure rushed over her body as she felt him shift himself against her body, grinding his form against hers to find a more comfortable spot all the while refusing to let go of her as he spooned into her body. Her body felt chilled and hot at the same time as she pushed herself up against him as carefully as she could, not wanting to break this perfect moment.

His eyes snapped open the moment she moved and his blue eyes stared into hers in worry and concern for her and only her. She didn't even think twice about losing the moment she had where she could simply lay against him, now that he was awake, there were a lot more than just cuddling that she wanted to do with him. She felt like she was in a daze as he slowly propped himself up above her with his arm, moving from her side to above her as he looked down at her. She couldn't move, couldn't think, as his body barely touched hers.

"Nabiki." Ranma spoke softly, barely a whisper as she tried to move those precious inches up to reach his lips, to kiss him and taste what a wild horse tasted like.

She fell back into darkness almost instantly, the dream ending at the worst possible time and she wished she could have that moment just once, just for a few moments. When she woke and knew for sure that she was awake, she looked over to the side of the bed where the dream Ranma had laid, only to find it disappointingly empty. She wanted to sob at the injustice that was dreams, but just didn't have it in her. She had been an Ice Queen for too long to know for a fact that those kinda dreams are for bitter, frustrated old women who don't have sex lives.

She felt so old...

* * *

"Nabiki..." She moaned quietly to herself as the voice called to her, making the darkness shake around her. "Nabiki..." The darkness dimmed around her and she moaned this time. Why wouldn't the voice take a hint and leave her alone?

"Nabiki..." this time the voice was accompanied with the hand. They were tag teaming her now, and that just wasn't going to happen, not to Nabiki Tendo.

She sat up in bed with a bleary glare, looking around at her room for the voice and the hand. They were going to get there's, she was going to blackmail them into poverty faster than you could blink. She looked over at the door to her room only to pass by her sister Kasumi and Nodoka, who were standing over her.

"Thank goodness, you're awake." Kasumi sighed gratefully before giving her middle sister a heart warming smile. "We were beginning to worry if we were going to have to take you to the hospital, after all."

...Huh? Hospital? What the hell were they talking about?

"You've been sick for nearly a week, young lady. You had us all very worried." Nodoka admonished Nabiki as if she was a little girl again, making her feel as if she had been worried and was simply chiding her for the motion, not because she deserved it.

"I've been sick?" She felt so tired, she wanted to sleep for a few more hours, but her sister and Nodoka looked like they wanted to say their peace.

"Your father, bless his caring heart, nearly drowned you a few times with his crying." Nodoka made it sound like it was worse than it was, though she was trying to be as polite about it as possible. "After the third time, we had to have someone watching you for awhile until I could come home and take care of you myself."

"Take care of me?" Nabiki looked down at herself and the huge shirt that went down to her knees. Her eye twitched at it.

"Well, your sister, Akane, thought it would be best to feed you something home cooked and turned the kitchen into a war zone from what I've been told." Kasumi sweat dropped at that remark, Nabiki was just glad she was still alive. "We finally gave her the opportunity to watch over your father since he didn't see able to control himself while Ranma watched over you personally."

Well, at least they had...?!

"Did you say you had Ranma watch over me?" Nabiki asked calmly and without a trace of emotion on her face.

Kasumi smiled brightly, her normal smile returning to her face. "Oh, yes. When we asked him, he wouldn't leave your side, not even to go to school."

Nabiki raised her hands to her face and tilted her head down so she could rest her elbows on her legs. "Do I even want to know what he did to me? Or why I'm wearing this shirt?" Nabiki reached down and tugged at the nightshirt in question. "Please tell me he didn't dress me in this."

Nodoka was frowning at her, but before she could say anything, Kasumi jumped in. "Actually, I dressed you in that. I needed Ranma to help carry you into the furo, and when I needed you moved, I asked him to wear a blindfold and guided him where I wanted you placed. Nothing happened without your permission." Kasumi smiled triumphantly at that. She wasn't about to have Ranma do anything like that unless it was with her first.

'Least I have some dignity left to me.' Nabiki thought to herself before her brain mentally caught itself and backed up on what occured to her. "Ranma didn't happen to sleep in my bed with me, did he?"

Kasumi smiled, thought you could tell the smile shifted from elated to faked at the mere mention of Ranma and her bed. Nodoka had a glassy look to her eyes as she clutched her hands in front of herself.

"On second thought, never mind." Nabiki waved off whatever answer was coming, in this case, ignorance was bliss. "I think I need a soak in the furo." She wobbly got up to her feet before walking over to her dresser slowly. Kasumi and Nodoka both nodded and mentioned that the furo was ready and that she could go right in. Nabiki didn't care if the furo was in hell at this point, she needed a soak and a very cold shower, that dream she vaguely remembered was way too vivid right now and she needed either satisfaction, or something to cool her hormones down.

She headed down the hallway from her room to the bathing area, opening and closing the door without really seeing anything, the thoughts playing in her head just too much to deal with right now. She shed her panties and the shirt, at least thankful that Kasumi had removed her bra at some point and left it off. She hated sleeping in her bra, it always felt like it cut into her when she forget about taking it off herself.

She walked into the furo with her towel and tossed it to the side, leaving it in the corner instead of wearing it or bothering to hang it us so it wouldn't get wet. She'd been bedridden for several days, she needed to shower. Most of all, she needed to wash that dream out of her head right now or she was going to do something that would probably cause a lot of strife in the house.

She turned the faucet on and took the shower head in hand before the water began to come out, aiming it at her body to calm it down. It was cold, at first, deliciously cold, and was doing the job of turning off that fire she had in her body. She waited a few minutes longer, letting the chill seep through her body before reaching for and turning on the hot water tap.

She washed carefully, making sure not to stay in any one place on her body too long and start that heat up once again indirectly. The hot water was soothing her body as much as the cold water had calmed down her desire, which she was plenty thankful for. At least it kept the thoughts away for the time being.

The sound of water splashing in the furo made her stop what she was doing as her body reacted to the noise. She didn't want to look, she could just feel karma slapping her in the face at that moment for her taking pictures of Ranma and Akane, she did not want to confirm what she knew was in there with her. As if she didn't have a choice, her head slowly turned toward the furo and the bathing Ranma in his male form as he sat in the water, staring at Nabiki with those heart breaking blue eyes.

'Don't stand up, don't stand up, for Kami's sake, please don't...' She didn't get to finish that thought as Ranma stood slowly, one leg at a time going over the side of the furo before he started walking over to her.

"Nabiki..." Ranma stood in front of her, looking down right in front of her. Her face was right in his...

"Ranma, w-what are you d-doing in h-here?" She turned around abruptly, facing away from him and fumbled with the knobs for the shower. She needed cold water, right now!

His arms wrapped around her and his chest pressed against her back, making her hands go nerveless as the shower head fell to the floor and sprayed uselessly along the tiles. She whimpered at the feel of his body against hers, the heat he was creating in her was doubling on itself was going to explode at any second.

"You're ok." He whispered against her body as his cheek rubbed into her shoulder. "Thank goodness you're alright."

She turned abruptly in his arms and pushed him back, forcing herself on top of him as she kissed him deeply, her tongue rolling in his mouth and looking for something, anything to get ahold of. Ranma's arms loosened for a moment and she nearly cursed in her mind at his lack of action before she felt his own tongue play against hers. She pressed herself against him harder, rubbing up against him again and again as she let her dream take hold of her and let her inner desires out.

"Nabiki, are you in...?!" The furo door sliding open killed the mood quite quickly, but she wasn't about to get up from where she laid anytime soon, not even for Akane. Ranma's hands along her back felt oh so good.

"What the hell do you think your doing to my sister, you pervert?!" Akane shouted in anger, a red aura billowing up around her.

"Akane," Nabiki looked up at her younger sister, hostility radiating from her, "go away. Now."

Akane flinched back from the look Nabiki was giving her, her red hot aura sputtering out. "But, he's..."

Nabiki got up from where she laid at and moved calmly up to her sister before pushing a hard finger into her still developing bosom. "I'm going to explain this to you very clearly, Akane. Make sure you pay attention cause the first time's free." She made sure she had her sister's attention before she continued. "Women need men to have babies. Babies do not come from the stork. There is not, never was, nor will ever be a stork to bring you a kid just for you. Men are not the only perverts in the world, both of your sisters are perverts because they want that..."

Nabiki's rant was cut of when she pointed back at Ranma behind her only to see that Ranma had shifted at some point while she was berating her sister into his girl form, leaving only a busty redheaded girl standing where the man she had nearly had all to herself had been. Nabiki's eyebrow twitched violently before she turned back to her sister, who was looking like she had swallowed her tongue.

"I am very upset with you right now." Nabiki's voice made ice look warm and toasty as she addressed her sister. "You will stay away from me for at least a few days, or I will do something to you that will make that mallet of yours look like a toy hammer. You know I abhor violence, and with good reason. That rule is suspended when it comes to you."

"N-nabiki..." Akane tried to say something to defend herself, or at least her actions concerning her sister.

"Go. Away. Now." Nabiki was threatening at this point. She didn't have access to a whole lot of things she could use on Akane right now but the towel she had tossed to the side, the full furo, and a bar of soap were beginning to become likely possibilities.

Akane did the smart thing and closed the furo door, getting away from the very irate Nabiki. Nabiki sighed, taking several deep breaths before se turned around and full body twitched. Her towel was missing from the floor where she threw it, on top of that, Ranma was missing as well, and the window above the furo was open, letting a chill breeze into the room.

Unable to do anything more but walk over to the footstool, she picked up the shower head and began to wash off again, but not before attending to some of her 'needs' first.

* * *

It didn't work, none of it worked.

Genma wasn't sure what he was going to do now. It had all gone so wrong, his wife had threatened to end his life, never mind the seppuku contract. There was the pressure point that would maintain his panda form, and swimming had been an about the only thing that didn't hurt him too much as long as the water. Then had come the attempt at capturing that dragon prince, which ended up with tossing it down that cliff to avoid its friends.

Phoenix mountain had been a flop. The supposed cure he needed turned out to be ingredients for some soup, not for a cure for his problem. So he was left with no options but to head back to Nerima, where that old monkey had cursed him. The Umi Sen Ken might allow hi to follow her around for awhile, but he'd have to drop it eventually so that he could grab the pill from her, and then there would be a beating he wouldn't wish on himself.

He was in Shanghai, on the docks, waiting for the next boat headed back to head back to Japan. Currently in his panda form so he didn't have to suffer through the pain of transforming once again, he sat in a wooden cage headed back toward Nerima, Japan. The bamboo in his paws was about tasteless and he had lost a few inches around his stomach from all the journeying he'd been on. Every time he had tried going into a village with a paved street, he had been attacked very often, so stealing food had been an impossibility.

No, he was going to go back to Nerima, home of the weird and where some of the more exotic martial arts prevailed. Back to where he could capture the boy and make him respect his elders, like he should have been trained to do in the first place.


	19. The Devil You Know

**Is it? Could it be? YES! Hell Froze Over! After Three Months of waiting! Had a lot of things I was trying to get done, like looking for a new job and such... WE ALL KNOW WHAT THAT'S LIKE, DON'T WE?!? Thought I had a game designer/tester position, but that line ran into a stone wall at about 85 mph. Go figure...**

**Disclaimer: Lawsuits are for Killing!  
**

* * *

He was on the outskirts of Nerima, after escaping from the zoo using the Umi Sen Ken. He had to knock out the guard for their shirt, but it had been necessary to use something to activate the skill. Now, standing along the rooftops of Nerima, there was something that had changed since he left, something that was both familiar and made him shiver in terror.

No matter. Whatever it was, if he couldn't remember it, it wasn't all that important. He wasn't going to be stopped by an abject fear. A True Martial Artist feared nothing, which is why Ranma was such a failure. Maybe it was his fault...

He shook his furry head. It wasn't his fault, he had no fault. The last fault he had was with the Dread Master, and that had been not standing up to the little demon sooner. Since his burial, he had left his mistakes behind with the diminutive old letch. He would never commit another mistake, and Ranma would not be his biggest, not if he could help it.

He wouldn't be able to go around the Tendo Dojo, or he'd be seen for sure. If Nodoka were to get a hold of him this time...

He shivered. He'd avoid the house like it was the police. She'd do worse than they would to him.

* * *

Nabiki stepped into the grounds of the schoolyard, afraid of what was left of her network. Akane didn't know the first thing about making money off of anyone, all she knew was her martial arts, and even that wasn't saying much. She was relearning from the beginning, once again. Nabiki could see that it hurt her pride to start again from the beginning, but at least now her Father was teaching her, as he should have.

If only they didn't have to worry about the midget pervert...

"Nabiki!" Kodama came up to her, followed closely by Satori. "Thank goodness you're back."

Nabiki eyed the both of them. She never hired anyone into her employ who seemed flighty or gossipy. If they were acting this way before anything had managed to occur at school, then there must have been a good reason.

"Is it back to business as usual, Boss?" Satori crossed her arms in a mimicry of Nabiki's normal cold calculating stance. Her dark black hair framed her pale looks.

"Yeah, let's start by collecting all overdue debts." Nabiki reached into her bag to pull out her notebook. "Wouldn't do to let people think that they can make bets without paying for their poor choices..." Where was her debt book? It should have been right next to her social studies book.

"Nabiki, you can't be serious." Kodama spoke with a little skepticism in her voice. "After you sent Ranma to collect for you..."

Nabiki's head snapped up and her eyes pinned both of the girls in place. Kodama and Satori looked at each other before looking at their boss. "We need a room to discuss what Ranma's been up to while I've been sick..." Nabiki spoke evenly. "Gather everyone and meet me on the third floor."

* * *

"She didn't have to leave for school before us."Akane huffed as she approached the school grounds. Ranma was walking behind her, making sure to stay clear of any sudden movements from her. That mallet of hers tended to come out of nowhere when she had a mind to use it.

"Morning Akane." Yuka called out, getting Akane to stop as both Sayuri and her came walking up, smiling happily to Akane. "Is your sister doing better? Seeing Ranma here, I imagine she's doing alright."

Akane smiled happily. She hadn't seen her friends in a long time, and she didn't like them hanging around Ranma too much. Still, Ranma was starting to prove that all boys weren't perverts, though her sister being naked all over Ranma cast shadows on that. Oh, and let's not forget about hurting Dr. Tofu. On second thought, she still didn't like Ranma...

"Yeah, Nabiki left early to most likely find her friends. She probably had to catch up on the gossip." Akane smiled happily to her friends, it was good to see them once more.

"Well, it has been quieter around here without your sister around, no offense." Yuka placed a finger to her chin as she thought about the last week.

"But, as long as she's feeling better, I guess we can put up with the weirdness she seems to stir." Sayuri eyed Ranma carefully, making sure to not make it too obvious. Akane may not like him too much, but she did miss the boy's body. She mentally shook herself and admonished the slip up, even though it was true.

"Could you guys hold onto my school bag for me?" Akane asked as she offered it to her friends. Without Nabiki to hold onto her school books, who knows who would get a hold of them and try to ransom them off for a date. Kuno might try, but Akane hoped he wasn't that smart.

"Sure, but why don't you have Ranma hold onto them? He is in your homeroom, isn't he?" Yuka asked as she took the bag from Akane.

Akane frowned before smiling to her friends. "The way Kuno has been trying to attack Ranma all the time, that'd be just as bad as getting my bag dirty on all these.."

All the boys had their eyes averted from them, looking nervous and sweaty. Their eyes glanced over once or twice in Akane's direction, but quickly averted as they whistled idly, or just fidgeted in place. They were still dressed in their club clothing, but they weren't attacking either, which made the Sumo in their traditional loin cloths look disturbing as they simply stood there in the diaper clad glory.

Akane didn't understand why they weren't attacking until she turned her eyes up to Ranma and glared at him. "This is all your fault, I just know it..."

* * *

He suffered through the pain of turning back human for this moment. Approaching the Tendo Dojo while the kids were out, he had a far greater chance during daylight hours to sneak in without anyone seeing him. With all the weird and eccentric martial arts that were practiced in this part of the world, no one gave a second look to a fairly overweight man is a dirty white gi and bandanna on his head acting for all intents like a ninja on someone's roof.

He had been correct so far in assuming that Soun's skills had degraded to the point where he couldn't sense his presence, but just to be sure, he was suppressing his skills as low as possible. Nodoka was trained far better than Soun was with her weapon skills, and she could always sense whenever he was nearby. He had to attempt coming to the house, hoping that today was one of the days that Nodoka was called off to her job, whatever it was she did, or to find food for dinner, something he always appreciated of her.

The Chinese girl had ridden by his position twice, and fortunately, he had been watching for the bike riding maniac. Wherever one amazon was, there were more to follow, and as long as she didn't act as if she didn't sense anything out of the ordinary, he was safe for now. She had stopped once or twice as she had ridden past him, a frown on her face as she nearly struck him once, but after her own near miss with a white clad boy with glasses thick as your wrist, she dismissed it and continued on doing whatever it was she did.

He was on final approach when a chill went up his back, a foreboding feeling that had heralded his luck turning from alright to dead meat. He looked around frantically, reaching for his bandanna reflexively as he checked his surroundings. "Where's the boy when I truly need him?" Genma muttered to himself, wondering who was coming that was making his run-now-ask-questions-never instincts blare loudly.

He was just outside the wall of the Tendo Residence, behind their house where there weren't any windows except on the second floor. Hopping the wall and pressing himself back against it, just in case it was someone outside looking in for him, he breathed carefully from his mouth, knowing from past experience that breathing from your nose when trying to hide usually ends up with a hissing as he breathed in.

He wasn't going to look, no matter what. If you looked, you acknowledged that there was someone there, and as long as he didn't look, then they weren't there, and he was simply imagining that presence. Besides, the only person who had that kind of presence around them that made his body want to flee just from being near them was dead and buried.

"Take it easy, Saotome..." Genma muttered softly to himself, keeping himself as inconspicuous as possible. "Nothing to be nervous about. The Master is nowhere near by..."

Going up on the roof was the worst thing he could possibly do when t came to the Tendo Household. Since Ranma had been left at the Tendo Dojo, Amazons come jumping over the wall every other day, there's a lost kid that wants his head, and some little ninja with a purple kerchief showed up just long enough to take pictures of the youngest Tendo daughter before fleeing once again.

No, the roof was definitely not the right way to enter the house. He'd use the back kitchen door.

* * *

"You there, peasant boy." Kuno called out in front of the school as Ukyo crossed the gates into the grounds.

Ukyo looked around, then over to the kendoist who had announced himself. Recognizing the boy from the Tendo's yesterday, her happy face slipped off. It was looking to be such a good week, too. "Yeah, what do ya want?"

Kuno ignored the rudeness and raised his kendo stick to the face of Ukyo, glaring down the length of wood in his hand. "What are your intentions on the pigtailed girl?" Kuno demanded from Ukyo, fixing his gaze on Ukyo.

Ukyo looked confused at him. "Pigtailed girl?" She thought he was talking about Ranma in his girl cursed form, but that didn't make any sense.

"Don't try to deny that you were not there at the Tendo's most illustrious home fighting with the most beautiful pigtailed Goddess." Kuno angrily demanded. "I saw you with mine own eyes attacking the beauteous pigtailed Goddess attempting to date..."

"I was not trying to date that jackass!" Ukyo's hands clenched reflexively into fists. "What kind of idiot are you to think I was trying to date him?!?"

Kuno blinked in confusion briefly at the gender switch, but continued as if never hearing the distinction. "So you are saying that you were not trying to date the tree born kettle girl?"

Ukyo wondered what world the kendoist was from, and how many names Ranma had with him. "No, I was not trying to date...?!" The sudden slash at her face had her jump back from Kuno, her hand reaching for her battle spatula strapped to her back. "What the hell is wrong with you?!?"

"You are obviously lying!" Kuno shouted as he followed up with a forward thrust then using a wrist snap to execute a slash at her throat. "What man could not see the beauty and grace in her walk? The jumping prowess she has when she floats through the air? The gentleness with every touch she lays upon mine own body?"

"Some gentleness." Someone said behind Kuno. "She blasted him into a wall the last time she 'touched' him."

Ukyo growled in her throat as she came at Kuno, whipping her large weapon as if it was the small kendo stick in Kuno's hand. She really didn't need this right now. The school bell was about to...

The sounds of the school building intercom sounding the five minute warning before classes start increased her anger. She was going to have a lot of problems today, she just knew it.

* * *

"Shampoo." Cologne called to her granddaughter, who was preparing for the afternoon opening of the store.

"Yes, Great Grandmother?" Shampoo called happily from the front of the restaurant, continuing to work as she answered.

"Your punishment is over." Cologne announced, causing Shampoo to stop in mid motion as she was reaching for the next chair to flip over. "You may begin practicing your Wu Shu once again. Also, I have decided that you may go and visit young Ranma from time to time." Not receiving an answer to this proclamation, Cologne looked out into the Cat Cafe dining area for her Great Granddaughter, only to see the last chair she had been grabbing spinning on one leg rapidly before clattering over onto it's side. "She certainly doesn't waste any time, does she?"

"Here's your order, old mummy." Mousse called as he came in through the back door of the kitchen, earning him a blow to he face with a skillet. He collapsed onto the ground, seeing only stars.

Cologne sighed. The audacity of youth these days. Why can't any of the youngsters show any respect for their Elders?

* * *

Lunchtime had been going on for ten minutes before Ukyo could find Ranma. Bearing the signs of surviving the scourge that is Kuno by the tears in her uniform, she marched over toward where Ranma, Sayuri, and Yuka were sitting together under the tree. "Alright, you jackass, call off stickboy or I swear I'm going to hurt both of you!"

The three sitting under the tree blinked at Ukyo confused, looking to each other for some kind of answer to Ukyo before they turned to Ukyo. "By stickboy, you're referring to upperclassman Kuno, aren't you?" Yuka replied, watching as Ukyo seethed where she stood.

"Is there another idiot around here that waves around a wooden sword and has an ego larger than the Ryukyu Islands?" She snapped, staring hotly at Ranma to do something other than just sit there, looking dumbly at her.

"Sorry, uh..." Sayuri drew a blank for a second before remembering who she was talking to. "Ms. Kuonji?" she thought that was the name. "Once Kuno gets his mind set on something, its impossible to change it."

Ukyo stared blankly for a second at Sayuri before growling and reaching down to grab Ranma by his collar, lifting him up and slamming him into the tree. She stepped into his personal space, making sure he couldn't break her grip so easily. "I don't care how you do it, just make him stop already!"

"Aiyah!" Came the too perky female voice, followed by the killer vibe from lots of people behind her. "Spatula girl too too close to Airen!" came the broken Japanese from the local Chinese floozy. Glancing over her shoulder, nearly every girl within sight of Ukyo had a soft blue glow around them as they glared hatefully at Ukyo and what looked like her stealing Ranma's lips for her own. Shampoo was bearing her Bonbori and had taken an offensive stance, her face set in an emotionless mask. "Shampoo protect Airen from cross dressing Spatula Girl!"

Ukyo turned around, looking up into Ranma's face, anger bleeding off of her. "I hate you so very much..."

* * *

In the top of the Tendo household, Genma searched. The small one room in the attic had been left for their venerable and deadly Master so that he could rest from the exertions of his daily 'liberations' and so that he could go through his collection of frilly undergarments in peace and private. Soun and freely given the old man the room because it didn't give easy access outside the house except for one small window, and for the fact that you couldn't easily find the entrance to it inside the house unless you knew where to look.

Searching through the attic meticulously, he was hoping to find training manuals for any obscure and obscenely powerful martial arts that he could put his _'son'_ through. On top of that, no one ever came up into this forgotten spot in the Tendo household, making it the perfect place for him to hide away until it was safe to strike.

He spun on the ball of his foot, turning to grapple with something behind him. Looking around the small enclosure, he could have sworn that there had been something behind him just a moment ago. Shrugging off the feeling of being watched, Genma gave the room one more glance over his shoulder before resuming his search.

The Dread Master had hidden his best stuff up here, most of it was stuff from his younger day that he had stolen from the Amazons in China, probably the very same Amazons that He had run into by accident. It had been bad enough that they had chased him for eating that food that they had left sitting out under the sun, he was doing them a favor by eating the stuff that was drying out.

It was the boy's fault for not coming to his father's aid. Ungrateful child! He didn't have any idea what crawled all those Amazons butts, but obviously, they didn't know when to quit. Now he had one that had cursed him, one that wasn't so bad, and one that prevented him from having any more heirs to the greatest martial arts background in th world!

He whipped around on his toes, this time giving a short hop before landing flat footed. There _had_ been someone there, just brief enough to brush against his awareness. He wasn't alone, and they were hiding from him, which meant that they were either a ninja, or they were a ghost. Genma didn't believe in ghosts, even though those suckers had paid him to get rid of such things out in the boonies and back lands where civilization was barely civil.

"Whoever you are, you're trespassing in my house." Genma spoke flatly. "I'm not offended that you are spying on me, if fact, I would even say that your talent is almost average." They didn't make a move or a sound while he was talking to the, which meant they were confident that they weren't going to be discovered any time soon, not good for him. "Maybe if you come out, we can discuss a few lessons in stealth and evasion?"

Nothing stirred in the silence. He made sure his ki was suppressed to the bare minimum as he continued to try and find the person in the room with him. He shifted onto his toes as something moved fro above, landing on his head and obscuring his eyes for a moment. He ripped whatever it was off, looking upward at the ceiling, only to find empty ceiling looking back at him.

Wondering what that meant, he looked down at his clenched fist, and the colorful something held in his grip. _'"feels kind of like silk..."_ He thought to himself as he opened his hand and stretched it out, only for his heart to catch at the Hello Kitty face staring back at him on what could only be a pair of women's panties.

"Hello, Genma." An aged voice sneered behind him, making his well trained instincts freeze. He was knocked unconscious soon afterwards.

* * *

Ukyo had thought that this day was going to start out great, that nothing to could ruin it. She had forgotten that this was Nerima, and saying something like that in this ward was like telling Fate how predictable it was, and that it wouldn't known spontaneity if it came up and kissed its rear end.

"Fate's a real..." Ukyo muttered under her breath, cutting off the last bit as she was jostled from behind. Staring at the girl that had roughly pushed passed her with the little spite she had left in her, Ukyo figured it was time to head back to her grill and get back to work. Her favorite blue top had been cut in several places due to the idiot savant, Kuno, and then jungle girl had to come along and add gashes to the leggings she wore, making her look like a real ragamuffin.

She bit back a curse as Ranma stepped in front of her, forcing her to stop or run over him. Glaring at him for the injustices of the day, she spat. "What the hell do you want?"

Handing Ukyo a blank notepad, she stared at it for a second before looking up at Ranma. "Your measurements, please." Ranma said to her.

Her battle spatula was out in a second, the pad of paper dropped to the ground as she struck with blurring death at the ingrate to ask her such a personal question. She had had enough, and Ranma was going to be her outlet!

"Hold still, you jackass, so I can kill you!" Ukyo shouted, making her weapon dance and weave in ways a normal long staff weapon shouldn't be able to move.

Nabiki and Akane came out of the school, heading for home sedately until they came to the gathered crowd around the fight at the front gate. Sighing to herself, Nabiki pushed her way forward until people realized who was trying to get through, and gave way for her. Ranma continued to dance around Ukyo's strikes as she screamed her rage and frustration out at Ranma, until Nabiki came out at the edge of the circle.

Taking the opportunity to get Ranma while his attention wasn't on her, she lashed her weapon forward in a quick jab motion, only to strike an afterimage of Ranma.

"Nabiki." Ranma said as he landed in front of the brown haired girl, smiling to her.

She crossed her arms in front of her, looking mildly annoyed at him. "What's going on Ranma? Hasn't Ukyo had enough trouble today?"

Ranma scratched the back of his head, his other whipping behind him to grab hold of the shaft of Ukyo's battle spatula without looking as I swung for the back of his head. "I asked for Ukyo's measurements." Ranma spoke quietly, making sure to lean in a little bit so it was harder for other people to hear him.

"That's none of your business!" Ukyo shouted, kicking at his arm and hand to make him release her weapon.

"May I ask why you want her measurements?" Nabiki massaged the bridge of her nose as Ranma started to revert back to before coming to the Tendo's. Looking over at Ukyo, Nabiki considered the girl for a moment before she realized what Ranma was going on about. "I see." Nabiki muttered before sighing. "If you could give me your measurements, I'll make sure that Ranma here replaces your clothes for you."

"Eh?" Ukyo stopped mid kick, looking past Ranma to Nabiki.

Nabiki picked up the abandoned pad of paper and ripped off the top sheet, crumpling it up before pocketing the paper. "Ranma wanted to pay for replacement clothing for you. He was asking for your measurements because you work at your shop, and wouldn't be able to afford getting something for yourself, unless you planned to close your doors for the day, that is." Nabiki took an ever ready pen out and looked at Ranma. "That is what you were trying to do, right, Ranma?"

"Yes, Nabiki-san." Ranma's face was downcast and he was speaking in his submissive voice as he released Ukyo's weapon, holding both of his hands in front of himself.

Sighing, Nabiki turned her head toward Ranma. "Ranma dear, we're going to have another one of our lessons about etiquette." Ranma nodded meekly. "In any event," Nabiki said as she turned back to Ukyo while Ranma took a place behind and to the left of Nabiki, "I need your measurements so that Ranma and I can go and get you your new clothes."

"What's going on?" Akane asked, finally making it to the front of the circle, next to her sister.

"A misunderstanding, Akane." Nabiki spoke, waiting for Ukyo to make a decision.

"Can we do this..." Ukyo looked around, blushing slightly at all the faces leering at her, "somewhere without all the people watching?"

Nabiki looked around, noticing for the first time all the stares. "I suppose we could do that." Nabiki mused before making hand motions to everyone. "Alright, that's all, nothing to see here, folks."

Akane glared at everyone, the boys catching the hint whereas the girls looked starry eyed at Ranma. "Didja hear that?" One girl said with another speaking right on top of her. "He's going to buy her clothes." A third voice sounding close enough to be a guy's asked. "Do you think she'll model it for him as a 'thank you'?"

Akane pulled out her mallet and went pervert hunting.

* * *

During the midday lunch rush, a knock came to the back door of the Cat Cafe. Normally, anything that would detract from keeping the store in business would be ignored, but the sensation she was picking up was telling her not to ignore this.

"Mousse." Cologne called to the dishwasher. "Cook the food for a moment. I need to step out back for a breather."

Mousse looked over his shoulder at the old ghoul as she hopped from the cooker to the back door. He waited till she closed the door behind her before he moved over to take her place, mumbling under his breath, "A breather? She needs an iron lung from the look of her." The sudden blow to the back of his head sent him to the floor.

"Try to say that when you've lived as long as I have." Cologne said before reclosing the door as quietly as she had opened it. Turning around, she stared down from the top of her staff at a hogtied man with a bandanna stuck into his mouth, then tied shut. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Happosai?"

The diminutive old man sat in the small of Genma's back, smoking serenely as if contemplating the greater things in life. Things like why can't Victoria's Secret winter catalog ever come out in June? He exhaled a stream of smoke heavenward, praising Kami for giving the world women before looking at the one reject in all good plans.

"I heard you were looking for my student." Happosai said as he placed the end of his pipe to his lips and inhaling once again. He let the smoke settle inside before exhaling again before looking at Cologne with a calculating eye. "I'm here to ask you for a favor."

Cologne hopped down from her staff, grabbing the base of her staff in her hand before eying the old pervert. "I could just take him from you by force. Still, you have done something that we, the Amazon Village as a whole, would forgive some of your transgressions for. Speak your mind, and I will at least consider it."

Happosai stayed sitting on his student, his legs crossed under himself. "I would like for you to approach the Tendo House and ask them, with assurances, to allow me to stay in their abode."

"I've heard enough." Cologne swung her staff with one hand, trying to bat the old pervert from the back of Genma.

Happosai hopped over the strike before retaking his previous position. "I'm very serious about this. Even to the point of promising to protect everyone in the Tendo Dojo from myself."

He lashed out with his pipe and stopped the follow up thrust that would have been sure to knock him back into the wall behind him had Cologne put any kind of power behind it. He might have been able to displace most of the energy behind her thrust, but he was sitting on a surface that would roll with her strike instead of her standing on the ground. It would have been a near thing.

"How do you plan to protecting them from yourself?" Cologne asked calmly, as if the previous vote of no confidence didn't matter. "You're hardly worth trusting, no matter what kind of martial artist you are."

Removing his pipe from the large end of Cologne's weapon, he crossed his arms and shifted into a solemn mood. "It's true that I'll be very tempted, but I saw something in that poor boy that reminded me of me at one point in time." Cologne snorted at that whereas Happosai continued unabated. "He's got loads of potential, but the kid seems a bit obsessive if his continuing to try to chase me when clearly unable to follow."

"This seems a little convenient to me considering that one of your students is changing your Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu without the perversion and your other student is more a demon than what you ever were, which I should add, you should be proud of." Cologne tilted her staff back upright next to her, her gaze narrowed at the old man.

Happosai blinked in surprise for a second before scratching at his chin speculatively. "If Soun really is doing that with his daughters, then I must have failed somewhere along the way training him. Guess it wouldn't be so bad putting a mangy dog like that down for..."

"I was talking about the other man below you." Cologne hissed at Happosai. "Soun Tendo is a misplaced man, but he has started to do the rights things again because of that boy coming into his family's life. Your other student, however, is more the an animal than anyone I've ever seen in all my life. Better if he was skinned and laying in front of someone's firepit." Considering Genma's human form for a moment, she looked up at Happosai. "Why is he human, anyways? Did you use the Old Man Tokyo pressure point on him?"

"Why would he need that?" Happosai asked with a little curiousness in his voice.

"Because he took his son with him on a training journey to Jusenkyo and got him and his son cursed." Cologne stated flatly.

Happosai peered down at the back of the bandanna wearing student of his. "Genma turns into...?"

"A Giant Panda." Cologne answered drily.

Happosai mulled that over for a moment before saying, "You got what you deserved, going to Jusenkyo." Shaking his head, he put out the ash of his pipe on his student's butt.

"You're taking this better than I would have expected." Cologne eyed him with even more suspicions. "I'd hardly think you were the real Happosai if I knew better from your ki signature. Only you would have that much female ki and lust floating through your system."

Happosai hopped clear of Genma as his student shouted in pain when the ember finally came in contact with his student's flesh. "What can I say? I enjoy the finer things in life. Now about the Tendo's..."

Cologne eyed Genma hungrily before coming to a decision. "Let me make a phone call."

* * *

"Exactly why are we here at Kirabiyaka?" Akane asked sullenly. She didn't trust the pervert with going with her Nee-chan by themselves, especially after he had been all over her the last time in the onsen, even though Nabiki had told her that it had been her and not Ranma who was the reason why they were making out in the buff. Still, better to protect her Nee-chan from the pervert, even if it wasn't his fault last time.

"Ranma wanted to come here, so we're here." Nabiki said as Ranma walked ito the clothing shop, pad firmly in hand. Kirabiyaka's Clothes Store wasn't the worst place to go for clothing, but certainly wasn't the best place to go for clothing. Wondering what this was about, Nabiki walked in, being trailed by Akane.

"Ooooo, Ranma-kun! Welcome back, you cutie you!" Kirabiyaka squealed at the sight of his favorite piece of beefcake/customer. Literally prancing over and what appeared to be little flowers being thrown from his hands, Kirabiyaka picked Ranma up in his skinny arms and twirled around in place. "Is there something you need from Kirabi-chan? Just let little ol' me know what it is you want and I'll bend over doing my best to give you my best service!"

Akane blanched at the affection Kirabiyaka was giving Ranma, watching as the weird man put Ranma down and turned his head shyly to the side while doodling on Ranma's chest with his one finger. Normally, if Kirabiyaka had attempted such a show of affection with a girl, Akane would have gladly added his name to the list of Perverts she mentally kept with her. Watching him do it to Ranma of all people made her slightly queasy, if not outright ill.

Ranma handed the notepad over to Kirabiyaka, who took it daintily, and peered at the measurements on it. Eying Ranma for a moment, Kirabiyaka blushed, before placing both hands on his cheeks and turning away, embarrassed. "My, Ranma-kun. I didn't think you went with the short and skimpy look. I'm so embarrassed..."

"Actually, it's a gift for someone from school." Nabiki broke in on Kirabiyaka's fantasy, not wanting to watch the man's full body twitch and shiver for much longer. "Ranma-kun took pity on a girl who had her clothes ripped up by a bossy idiot, so he thought it would make her feel more welcome to the neighborhood if someone did something nice for her."

Kirabiyaka was biting on his handkerchief, rivulets of tears flowing from his eyes as he took the story to heart. "Isn't it just awful? Breaking a poor girl's innocence like that when she just moved to a new place? Ranma-kun, you're so wonderful to be so kind." He looked up at Ranma, sniffling as he tried to hold back his emotions. Akane and Nabiki sweatdropped at the show. Standing upright and making the handkerchief disappear someplace, Kirabiyaka got a glow in his eyes that disturbed the girls even more. "This dress must be something special, something that tells her that her pure innocence hasn't been lost, but merely taken from her! It is my sworn duty to help give back that maiden's virtue by aiding Ranma-kun in making this for her!"

"No dress." Ranma spoke, causing Kirabiyaka to fall over and smack into the ground hard enough to raise a dust cloud around his body.

"But Ranma-kun!" Kirabiyaka was actually crying for real this time as he grabbed hold of Ranma's chest and hung limply from the boy.

"She's alone." Ranma spoke softly, his face clouding over as Kirabiyaka suddenly looked surprised. "Her father threw her out because she was betrothed to someone who left her behind. Now, she lives her life as a man when she is a woman alone." Ranma looked at Kirabiyaka with determination. "She needs something independent, but feminine."

Ranma's body cracked as Kirabiyaka wrapped his arms around Ranma and squeezed with inhuman strength. The hug went on and on as Ranma's face started to turn blue. Finally releasing Ranma, who collapsed to the floor in a faint, Kirabiyaka turned and held a clenched fist in the air. "Unforgivable." The weird man muttered, as if he felt the woman's pain. "To be left alone by her family for a betrothal she was thrown into and then cast aside by both of them..."

Turning and picking up Ranma by his shoulders, he slung the pigtailed boy over one scrawny shoulder and marched into the back of his store, not bothering to stop with anything on his racks. There were no words to be said, Kirabiyaka had found a mission from Kami.

Akane blinked as the floor show ended, turning to her sister who held on to her Ice Queen mask by a hair's breath. "Did you get all that?" Akane asked, feeling slightly dizzy.

"I tend not to watch soap operas. That's Kasumi's area of expertise." Nabiki wished she had some poky right now to get the taste out of her mouth. She might have thrown up a little in her mouth and not of even known it.

* * *

Soun and Nodoka sat across from the Dread Master, Happosai, Cologne sitting somewhat next to him, but just far enough away that she wasn't totally guilty by associating with him.

"That's how it is." Happosai finished his explanation, looking at both Nodoka and Soun in the eye without the slightest malice or anything in his face.

"You trust him, Elder?" Nodoka asked, making sure to keep her eyes on the troll, in case he decided to get sticky fingers.

"He's being more serious than usual, which is in his favor, seeing as how he brought your husband to me, bound and gagged." Cologne glanced over to Happosai, who didn't rise to the taunt she didn't outright give.

"And you think that you will be able to help Ranma through training?" Soun asked, skeptically. True, Ranma did seem to become more lively when in open combat, and it seemed that the more he trained with Kasumi, the more emotional he was with her, but still...

"You have to consider that Ranma has known nothing but survival for the last ten years while he has trained his body rigorously to keep up with Genma." Happosai said as he crossed his arms, thinking as he spoke. "It is very possible that he's not had very many friends, or even social contact with anyone but Genma, which means that taking him to a psychiatrist is just going to tell you that he's been raised in the wild and has a distinct lack of any social skills whatsoever. I'd even go so far as to bet that the people at school have noticed how Ranma just seems to let everyone do whatever to him as long as it's not a direct threat or an attack." Shrugging, Happosai looked back up at Nodoka and Soun. "He thinks everything is normal, since he's never had any examples to go by."

The sound of the front door opening and closing, followed by the light conversation between Akane and Nabiki signified the return of the children. "Do you really think it was a good idea to let Ranma go back by himself? What if he tries to do something to her?"

"I very much doubt that, Akane." Nabiki replied drolly. "For one, they're in an Okonomiyaki shop with lots of customers, so he'd be bound to be seen if he tried anything. Also, Ukyo is not slouch when it comes to fighting. She'd be able to keep Ranma off of her long enough for someone to run for help, wouldn't you think?"

Akane grunted for her answer, having never thought that one out in her logic. At least she hadn't outright called him a pervert this time, which showed that she was trying to treat Ranma like a leper instead of a punching bag.

Walking into the living room where the conversation with the adults had been taking place, both Nabiki and Akane came to a complete stop as they saw Happosai sitting calmly at the table, and no one was dead yet.

"Girls, come in, we were discussing something important about the household, and we're going to need your input." Soun offered his children. Nabiki moved behind her dad, making sure to keep him between the little letch whereas Akane sat down next to the little troll.

"As I was saying, Ranma doesn't know the first thing about socialization, and can only understand everything through fighting." Happosai finished, waiting for their judgment.

"Akane, Nabiki, you know Ranma best." Nodoka hated the fact that the young ladies knew her son better than her, but that was only because they spent a larger amount of time with Ranma. "Have you seen anything from Ranma that supports his claim?"

"Not really." Akane answered, unsure what this was about. Why was she supposed to be watching him anyways?

"I've noticed a few things, most of which could get him in trouble if a teacher were to pay attention." Nabiki answered, watching as Nodoka's haired toinged out of place. "It's usually a guy who would be forcing himself onto a girl, but for Ranma, it seems to be the other way around."

Cologne sighed greatly. If Nabiki was correct, then if Xian Pu had been calmer with approaching the young Saotome, she just might have had a pregnant young girl on her hands instead of a frustrated Amazon warrior.

"So, how are we going to keep Ranma calm around his father?" Nodoka asked bluntly, earning a raised eyebrow from Nabiki and a gasp of shock from Akane.

"Uncle Saotome's coming back?" Akane wondered if he would help her with her lessons, as he promised. She had held up her end of the bargain, even if things had turned out bad for Ranma.

"Not because we want him to." Soun answered flatly, not thrilled with the prospect of having Genma back to stay, once again. Still, it was for Ranma, and if Happosai stayed around to control Genma...

"Hey, wait a minute." Akane looked around before looking at her father. "I thought you said this was a family decision. Where's Kasumi?"

"Kasumi gave her opinion on the situation and is preparing Happosai's room for him." Cologne wondered about the homemaker, wondering if she had some kind of intuition for preparing Happosai's quarters as if knowing he was going to be staying, or that she expected everyone to say yes because it was better for the house and everyone in it if he did. "The only thing she had a problem with was with Genma."

"I have a problem with it as well, but we have something over top of Genma that will keep him at least somewhat contained." Nodoka spoke cryptically.

Nabiki chewed on her lower lip in thought for a bit before seeming to come to a conclusion. "The cure for his curse, or something to do with it."

Cologne nodded. "We've made a deal with him, of a sort." Cologne nodded as she continued. "I have the only means to removing the Cat's Tongue from him, and if he follows the rules long enough to our specifications, then I will willingly give the pill over to him that will allow him to turn back into his original form. This is, of course, on the proviso that he does nothing to impair Ranma's mental and emotional growth during that time."

"Will he be teaching us martial arts?" Akane asked, her hands tightening in excitement.

"Soun and I will be teaching Martial Arts." Happosai spoke, getting the youngest daughter to stare at Happosai in shock. "In actuality, it'll be Soun when I'm not here, but in name, it will be both of us. Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu has done enough dirty deeds for one lifetime."

"Exactly why did you drag the Art through the mud?" Nabiki asked, getting everyone's attention at the sudden topic shift. "Father said that it could be a great martial arts, so why?"

"Training." Happosai answered almost immediately. "When I was first taught the basics that formed the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu, it was a whole different world with a whole different set of ethics. Back then, no sacrifice was too great to become the best."

Nabiki's eyes narrowed at Happosai. "We've heard talk like that before. From Genma."

Happosai nodded. "That would make sense, why Ranma has got such promise to be a great martial artist, then. If he went through the kind of training your father's went through, why Ranma would someday soon catch up to Cologne-chan and I."

"One moment, please." Soun stood up and walked out of the room, heading for his first floor bedroom. The table sat in silence until Soun came back, holding several manuals in his hands. Taking his place at the table, Soun slid them across the table towards Happosai. "These are some of the training manuals that Genma had within his pack."

Happosai eyed the first manual on top, not showing the amusement of the 'training manual' in front of him. You'd have to be a buffoon to believe something called the Lion's Cub was an actual form of training. The next book wasn't so amusing, and the next, and the next...

By the time he had finished, Happosai didn't look so 'Happy'. "You're telling me that Genma trained Ranma in all of these manuals?"

"We suspect more of them, but we know for sure that he trained Ranma in the Neko-Ken." Nabiki answered, not sure if she trusted the old man's poker face.

"Cologne, do you have some way of restraining Ranma?" Happosai asked calmly, which didn't get much of a reaction out of anyone about restraint, since they considered Ranma's cat side a little too wild.

"I do have something that works on a person's ki." Cologne stroked her chin. "If a person were to become too emotional while drawing on their ki, it would constrict around them, incapacitating them."

"I would like to use that on Ranma for awhile during my evaluation on Ranma's skills." He looked at the Amazon Elder seriously. "I think that you and I should assess Ranma's true potential and see what he really knows."

"That will involve doing a deep level read on his ki pathways and mapping out each individual scar he has on him before beginning that kind of assessment." Cologne made sure Happosai knew what he was getting into.

"We know he has the Neko-Ken locked away inside of him." Happosai stood up, trying to make himself taller and more impressive. "We don't know what else he may have inside of him. We know for certain that he has the Neko-Ken, but he could have other nasty surprises that we don't know about that are ten times worse."

Cologne considered for a moment before nodding to herself. "I think we should at least find his friend before we do any real training with him. If he has any." Cologne considered that little problem. It would be better if he had someone with a strong emotional tie that could calm him down if something happened. The Tendo girls were not suitable for the task.

"Would Ryoga do?" Akane offered, getting unnerved by all the eyes on her. "I think that guy that was here twice was a friend of Ranma's from when they still traveled around."

"Well, maybe." Nabiki muttered out loud as she scratched her cheek in thought. "Now how to go about finding him?"

"Don't worry, he's a martial artist, and a martial artist never gets lost!" Akane looked proud of the fact, holding her fist upright and before her in assurance.

* * *

Ryoga sneezed loudly before looking around as the ground started to rumble. Looking back up behind him, the snowy hill some hundred fifty feet behind him looked to have started coming loose and was rushing towards him at escape velocity "WHERE THE HELL AM I NOW?!?" He managed to shout before becoming buried in the avalanche that was 'helping' him down the mountain.

* * *

"It would be best if he were some kind of martial artist." Cologne speculated who they could find to help.

"He ran through our wall twice." Nabiki pointed at the just repaired spots along the wall that were a slightly different color from the rest of the stonework.

"Well, it will have to do." Cologne nodded, thought still unsure about the boy. He did try to attack the Kuno kid, only to run in the totally opposite direction. Hopefully, he would turn back up sometime soon.

"where is Ranma at, anyways?" Nodoka asked, looking around for her wayward child. "Wasn't he coming home with you two?"

Nabiki forgot to mention it and was about to speak when Akane beat her to it. "Ranma insisted on going to buy Ukyo a new set of clothes after hers was ruined. She blamed Ranma for her bad day, so he went to give her a surprise."

Clothes? Ranma? Surprise?!? Nodoka's mind skipped everything else when her son and another girl were mentioned and made the obvious leap. "My Son Is So Manly!"

* * *

Ranma maintained his perch on the other side of Ukyo's till it was nearly closing time. Seeing that Ukyo was about to close up for the night, he jumped down in front of her doorway and opened the sliding door. Ukyo was cleaning her grill off behind the counter and didn't look up at the sound of the front door opening.

"We're closing up for the night, sorry." Ukyo spoke loudly and clearly, though she didn't exactly sound very happy. She didn't look happy either as she went over her grill in nothing but professionalism, even though her face looked like she wanted to bite someone's head off.

"Ukyo." Ranma called from the front door. The sudden spatula that embedded itself just past his cheek bone was hard to miss.

"You got a lot of guts showing your face in my shop, Saotome." Ukyo spoke critically, her eyes daring Ranma to do something, anything, to set her off.

Walking over to the chef, Ranma bowed before her without a word before offering the brown paper gift in his hands. Eying the package tied with white string, Ukyo took the proffered gift from him and looked at it skeptically. "What's this?" Ukyo asked, unsure whether she should trust Ranma.

"Ukyo's new school uniform." Ranma answered, his cheeks turning slightly pink as he looked back down at his feet.

Looking down at the package once again, Ukyo eyed it once again in suspicion. Looking back up at Ranma, she asked him, "Well? Is that it?"

"Eh?" Ranma looked a little surprised before bowing to her once again. "Good night, Ukyo-san."

She watched Ranma leave before huffing and finishing up the grills, but not before walking over to the door and locking it this time. Who knows if he'd come back, and she wasn't in the mood for it. It took a full hour before she finished up, and another thirty minutes to go over her supplies, restocking what needed restocking, and making a note to place the orders tomorrow.

She tossed Ranma's gift to her into her bedroom without looking, once she ascended the stairs to the private rooms above the shop. Unable to afford some place away from her job to live, she would have preferred to live her by herself than somewhere else from the place that made her happy. It had been a somewhat rough life, but she was better for it.

She stripped and was about to put her clothes in the hamper when she saw what was left of her clothing from earlier this morning. Frowning at the destruction of her best pair of clothing, she made a disgusted sound and tossed her clothes in the hamper, then reached for her trashed clothing and tossed them away.

It was a bit unusual for her to be getting rid of clothing instead of mending what she could, but she wasn't on the road anymore, so she could afford to get rid of them. Then again, there was the gift that Ranma had gotten her to replace the clothing. She hadn't looked at it yet, but maybe it wasn't the same quality materials as she was used to. It had to be durable, after all.

Deciding that she needed to see the clothes that Ranma got, she left the bathroom in only her panties, leaving her chest binds back with the rest of her clothes. She took one of her mini battle spatulas and cut the binding, making sure to flick the string off complete before opening the paper.

She blinked at what she saw.

She lifted and held out the blue gi top with ties on the inner cuff of the sleeves, so that she could tie the sleeves up over her shoulders and get them out of the way. Dark navy blue, with some yellow kanji she couldn't quite read stitched into the fabric over every inch, yet spaced enough to not make it look garish, and made custom enough that you couldn't even see the threading unless you looked really closely, making it adjustable for growth.

The pants were of a better quality than her last ones had been. The last ones had been so tight from being too small that they showed off too much of her body, so she had always had to 'pad' them a little to not show off her femininity. These were of the same material, but felt just slightly different, and were actually given a little bit extra so that it didn't cling to her in all the naughty places, which had made her embarrassed the first time some jackass pointed it out to her.

At the very bottom was a white ribbon and a note. Flipping on the light overhead instead of using the stairwell light to see by, she laid down the pants next to the top before picking up the ribbon and note in one hand.

'The clothes that have presented to you as a gift are from a very dear friend. He won't come out and say it for himself, but he helped with making these clothes for you. He said that you had your life stripped from you and were forced to live a lie, and I could see the truth there in his face. I've written this letter without his knowledge, to tell you all this on his behalf and to let you know that someone does still care for you.

Should your clothing ever need repairs, or you would like to have a whole wardrobe of the same, please come to...'

She stopped reading the letter there, looking at the white ribbon instead. Gripping it tightly in her hand, she tossed both the letter and the ribbon to the ground before stomping back out of the room, leaving the clothes laying where they were tossed. She'd deal with Ranma herself in the morning.

* * *

"Sleep well, Ranma." Nabiki called out to him as he left her room, closing it quietly behind him.

Considering that it had been a quiet day today, he wondered why he felt so tired. He hadn't over exerted himself in some full on, free for all battle to the death. He hadn't had to deal with Kuno or his clingy sister in awhile, which he was thankful for. Kasumi's lessons seemed to be coming along quite nicely, though not as fast as his own lessons had come, thank Kami for that.

He scratched his head as he wondered what it was.

"Hello, Ranma. Are you heading to bed already?" Kasumi called from inside her room, her door open to the hallway for a change instead of closed. She had beel allowed the night off and Nodoka was taking care of the last few things before retiring to bed herself, so Kasumi had suddenly found herself with nothing to do.

"Maybe." Ranma didn't even sound sure to his own ears, and he wondered once again if he was catching whatever Nabiki had.

Kasumi smiled to him as she brushed her hair for a moment before her hand hesitated and she offered him the brush. "Could you help me with my hair? It's so hard to maintain sometimes..."

Ranma thought about it for a minute. He really didn't have anything else to do, and Kasumi was still dressed, though the full length night dress she wore looked a bit thinner than normal clothing.

She dropped her hand, hiding her disappointment. "I'm sorry. I am keeping you from bed, aren't I?"

Ranma looked blankly at Kasumi for a moment before stepping into her room. Walking over to her with a purpose, he gently took the brush from her hand and began to brush her hair out slowly. She turned slightly to allow better access to her hair, humming softly as she felt his hands working through her locks, the brush following behind it soon afterwards.

"Thank you for this." Kasumi hummed softly. "It feels so relaxing to have someone helping me for a change." She closed her eyes and let the motion of the comb run through her hair calm her. Giggling to herself, she spoke in a near whisper, "Do you know that I sometimes miss doing all the work?"

Ranma blinked from where he sat, staring at the back of Kasumi's head as his hands went on autopilot.

"It's strange for me." Kasumi mused. "I've been doing it for so long that, when I don't do it one day, I feel like I've forgotten to do something important. Like I'm not whole without doing it."

Ranma stopped and tilted his head to the side, trying to look at Kasumi's face from around her. Reaching back, she patted his hand in reassurance.

"It's ok, Ranma." She reassured him verbally. "Sometimes I just have to let go of what I'm so used to and do what I want for a change."

Ranma began combing over her hair again, slowly and meticulously as his mind processed what Kasumi had confided in him. "What is it that you want to do, Kasumi-san?"

She thought about that. She had started thinking about that since coming out from under the shadow of her past and finally having the beginnings of peace with it. She still didn't have an answer, not one she was happy with, but she was starting to do what she wanted, by being there with Ranma. She knew it was wrong to make him the focus of her change, but just this once, she wanted something.

"Ranma, will you tell me something about yourself?" Kasumi asked, and felt Ranma's hand and the brush he held stop. Looking up behind her, Kasumi could see the glimmers of fear in his eyes. She turned around and took the brush from his hand, placing it on the tabletop at the head of her bed before turning back and looking at him. "I'm not asking you to tell me because I want to know. I really would like to know more about you. I just want to know if you will tell me because you want to, not because I made you."

Licking his lips, Ranma glanced around the room nervously. "What would you like to know?" He asked, his voice jerky with his nerves.

Kasumi frowned as she thought. There was a lot she wanted to ask Ranma, nothing with him seemed to be a safe topic. Even that time when Nabiki and her had taken Ranma out to the park. They had walked by that traditional woman and Ranma...

"Do you remember when Nabiki and I took you into town before going to the park?" Ranma looked, still looking around the room suspiciously, though fear was starting to fill his eyes again and he was reaching for his collar. "Why did you say that you didn't want to have anything to do with that traditional woman?"

Ranma again froze, his eyes finding Kasumi's and practically begging her to not answer that.

Kasumi blushed softly before turning her face from his. "I'm sorry, Ranma." She spoke quietly. "I shouldn't have asked you about something that makes you feel wrong."

There was silence for quite a while, and she wondered what Ranma was thinking, seeing as he hadn't gotten up from the bed next to her. Biting her lip, she was just about to turn around and ask him to forget her silliness when he spoke quietly.

"It was before Jusenkyo, before we left Japan." She looked up at his face, calm and flat like a body of water before a storm. "Father had run out of money again, and the shrines we had already been to had warned the other shrines to our coming, so we were turned away before he could ask for shelter and food for work.

"We were walking the streets of one of the towns near the coast, preparing to swim across to china when a woman dressed in formal kimono clothing like from the feudal period approached him." He winced at the memory as he continued. "It sounded simple. She required my services, and would pay my father for the time I was to work for her. They haggled over the price until there was a common agreement, and my father told me to go with her for the few hours she had paid for."

He shivered slightly as Kasumi wrapped him in her arms, her head placed against his chest. "Don't." She begged him. He looked down at her as one arm wrapped around her, the second reaching up and beginning to brush her out unconsciously. "Can I just hold on to you? Just until I fall asleep?" Kasumi smiled up at him, her eyes looking slightly damp. "You can tell me later. I promise."

Ranma looked down at her, and could only nod to her. Moving so that his back was against the wall, he ran his fingers from the top of her head back down across the back of her neck and down between her shoulder blades before starting again. As Kasumi laid her head against him, pulling her legs up onto the bed behind her, Ranma remembered.


	20. Memories

**Took awhile getting this up and finished, mostly cause of experimentin with wireless cards out in places that haven't heard of dsl or cable internet access. I won't even begin to tell you why Satellite Internet sounds like a good idea after you sell your soul to Road Runner...**

**Disclaimer: Meh...**

**G.B.: There's probably misspelling in there somewheres, too tired to look for it myself...  
**

* * *

(The Past – Ten Years Ago)

"Pops, you sure I gotta be tied up with all this fish stuff on me?" A young Ranma of maybe 6 years of age asked as he looked down at himself and the sturdy ropes tying his arms against his body, liberal amounts of sardines were dribbled across him, tied up with the ropes, and the juices starting to seep through the gi he wore.

""I think I know how to read a training manual, ungrateful boy." Genma huffed as he secured the ropes behind Ranma, making sure that he couldn't break free by accident. The boy was starting to show some kind of spine after only a week of being with the Kuonji child, and that just wouldn't do. "Are you ready for the next phase of your training, Ranma? It's going to be tougher than anything you've faced before."

Ranma nodded firmly. His old man's training had been pretty tough to date, but just seeing the results while he had been playing with Ukyo had set him. He was good, but his dad said he could be better, and his dad wouldn't lie to him, right?

"I still don't understand what a cat's fist has anything to do with training, pops. Can cat's even make fists?" Ranma asked as his old man picked him up under one arm and walked with the bundled boy, Ranma's voice not affected from the embrace of his father as he hung from Genma's grip.

"Just trust your old man, he's not a master of Anything Goes for nothing." Genma didn't understand what it meant by Cat's Fist either, but he wasn't about to admit it. The fact that it was made with an age range meant he'd never know, but maybe he could find some way of copying it from his son afterwards. "Now then, prepare yourself, boy."

Genma stopped in front of a covered pit, the bamboo covering masking, but not totally, the sounds of cats yowling from inside. Lots of cats.

Genma flipped the lid open with his foot and Ranma suddenly got a foreboding feeling as he saw many of the cats were very skinny, and very hungry looking. "Uh, pops, maybe we should feed them first?"

"Ranma..." Genma spoke calmly as he lifted his son over his head with both arms. "You whine like a girl!" The sudden forceful toss of his son being thrown into the pit didn't bother him in the least, and the screaming was slightly muffled once he covered the lid up. The Art was suffering, and you couldn't get better without suffering for the Art. "You'll thank me for this when you're older, son."

-

"This doesn't have anything to do with those c-c-c-c-..." He couldn't say it, just thinking about those demons made him wince in phantom pain every time he thought about it.

"Even though it says Lion's Cub training, it has absolutely nothing to do with cats." Genma watched as his son jerked under the name of the felines and frowned. His son had developed a weakness due to the Cat's Fist training. It was true that the Neko-ken instruction manual had a warning about the technique being the ultimate martial arts maneuver, if mastered, but it had also said that the technique would most likely scar the child for life if it didn't kill him.

Genma didn't see how that detail was important. Ranma was his son, and as his son, Ranma wouldn't fail at anything. If he knew what was good for him, anyways.

Oh sure, maybe he was a bit callous and uncaring about his son's welfare. It's not like the grandmaster that Genma had taught under had been all that caring about him or Soun when they had trained under him. Genma turned out alright in the end, once the old letch had been imprisoned in that mountain. Even so, he was the fittest martial artist, and he was quickly becoming famous as well.

He wasn't as young as he used to be, though. Having a child set his sights on the next dream that needed to be accomplished after becoming a famous martial artist. Having a son to be the famous martial artist for all the challenges that would come looking for him. If, Kami Forbid, he finally got to the point where he had to retire and live off of his son's aid because of infirmity, his son had to be proficient enough in Anything Goes to pass the school on to his children.

Also, having a son who you could foist your problems off of didn't have anything to do with that decision either, nope, not at all.

"It's a pretty steep cliff, pops." Ranma commented as he put his pack down then looked back over the edge. "Exactly, how do we go about with this training technique, anyways?"

The kick to Ranma's back surprised the hell out of him and his sudden rapid descent down the cliff was as harsh to watch as it was for Ranma to feel. "Start climbing, boy. If you don't make it back up here by the time dinner is done cooking, you don't eat."

-

Ranma was running as hard as he could, as fast as he could. He couldn't glance over his shoulder at his pursuers, not because he was scared or nothing. No, the reason he couldn't see behind him was because he was carrying a couch on his back as he ran for his very life through a local zoo. Specifically the wolf paddock.

He had thought it strange that his father had him rub down in ground beef, claiming that it was to help his body from all the black and blue bruising. The fact that it had helped a little swelling go down had been a blessing, the hell of pursuing wild animals with teeth was not so nice.

"Run faster, boy! They're almost on top of you!" Genma shouted from on top of the couch on Ranma's back, the extra weight of Genma being carried with the couch was supposed to make him both stronger and faster, and it would, if the boy survived the training.

The sound of snapping jaws had him jump forward out of the way of one of the wolves as they tried to hamstring him and he shifted the couch on his shoulders, never thinking about dumping it. This hare brained training may have been bad, but if he abandoned it in the middle, his old man would probably do something crazier. Hopefully, he'd be able to get out of this in one piece.

-

He had finally healed up from his near mauling in the zoo. He wolves hand managed to scratch the hell out of the backs of his legs, but they hadn't got close enough to tear into the muscles and hamstring him, fortunately for him. The healing that did have to happen was pulled muscles in his back from lugging the couch and his father around while evading a gruesome ending at the fangs of his pursuers.

The fact that he woke up in the middle of the ocean, his feet wrapped around an anchor disturbed him, especially when he last remembered being in a hospital recovering from fatigue and muscle strain. He was supposed to be released today, though from looking at the shoreline, he didn't see the town or more specifically the hospital he had been laid up in.

"I see you're finally up, lazy boy." Genma voice spoke to him from behind. "Today, we'll be training you in a special technique to increase your lung capacity."

Ranma winced. He'd begun to learn that special techniques were a sign of bad things to come. Genma didn't know the meaning of the word restraint, and it showed in his teaching techniques. He'd had to push himself to his absolute limits just to keep up with his father's style of teaching, and even then, he was coming out of it more and more hurt.

Looking down at the anchor tied around his feet with chain, Ranma sighed. "Lemme guess, pop. Ya want me ta jump out and swim ta shore, right?" Looking over his shoulder at his old man, he stared at him in mild annoyance. "Ya do realize I may drown..."

"Foolish Boy!" Genma shouted, his face a mask of pain at his son's words. "A martial artists life if fraught with peril! No pain is too great for him to master his Art!"

There's suffering for his art, then there's killing himself for his art. Ranma was thinking his father was trying to do the latter instead of the former. Sighing, he shook his head. "Ain't no way you're gonna make me willingly jump outta this boat, pops."

He knew it was his father's voice, knew it wasn't what it sounded like, but the trauma of nearly having gotten nearly chewed to pieces by those monsters had been too much for him. With a near whispered "Meow!" in his ear, Ranma screamed in horror and leapt for his life from the sound of the cat behind him, throwing himself to the bottom of the sea to escape.

"That's my boy!" Genma crowed in pride as he shouted over the side of the boat and into the water below. "Remember! I'm doing this for you, even though what you say makes your poor father's heart break in sadness!"

-

Once again, through some miracle of chance, dumb luck, or maybe because Kami hated him, Ranma survived his training. Sneaking aboard the fishing boat and hiding out for the trip, they had traveled across the ocean to the borders of China where, by some screw up, Genma's stomach gave them away when he had gone looking for food before they had made it into port. Having to swim to shore had been tiring, but the training involving anchors to his feet had at least given him some benefit.

He never did find out what name the training method was, but he figured that it was a messed up training manual, much like the Neko-Ken had been. Ranma shivered as his clothes dripped water while he waited for his father to come ashore. An especially large wave splashed up the portly martial artist to shore, but not before bouncing off of several rocks. Dazed and slightly out of it, Genma laid prone face down in the sand as he tried to shrug off the pain of the sea.

"You OK, Pops?" Ranma asked, picking up a piece of driftwood and poking Genma with it a few times.

Springing up to his feet with a dexterity that was a bit unbelievable for his girth, Genma adjusted his gi belt while giving his wise sensei stare at nothing. "And that is how it should be done." Genma announced, as if pointing out a martial arts maneuver, though for the life of him, Ranma couldn't figure out what his old man was going on about this time.

Genma looked around at their situation, already picking up his backpack from where it had washed up to shore before him and was looking for their next stop. They could't go to the town nearby for fear of the people on the boat finding them and extolling their 'fee' for travel out of his hide, and he very much doubted that they'd accept Ranma's services.

"Follow me, boy." Genma announced as he leapt for the edge of the beach and off into the woodland beyond. Ranma sighed before heading after his father.

-

China was vastly different from Japan, and it was kinda nice to be some place where his culture wasn't prevalent. The rustic village they had come across was nice, separated from the world and its technological wonders, it made Ranma think of simpler times and places. He sighed as he leaned back against the wall on the outskirts of the village, waiting for his father to come back.

He old man had mentioned heading into town for supplies for their training trip, and since the foodstuffs had been in Genma's pack, they had all become waterlogged with sea water, making them inedible. Of course, he got blamed for it. His father was becoming more and more physical with him, and not in the kind way either.

So he was nearly nine years of age, didn't seem right that he was taking more punishment for things that wasn't even his fault.

Ranma blinked as his old man went running by him without any kind of call. Leaning up off the wall, Ranma stood up and continued to stare dumbfounded as his father continued his headlong flee towards the forest nearby. He was doing a good impression of a ninja skill of running over water, the rice patty field didn't even ripple as Genma flew across its liquidy surface. He was in mid motion to pick his pack up and follow after his father when he was clubbed with something hard over the head and passed out from the blow.

-

He was in pain when he came to. His danger sense was screaming a whole symphony at him as awareness trickled back into focus. Eyes blurry from the pain, he could feel the raw skin of his wrists and ankles tied together with coarse rope, his arms tied down to him at the elbows and his knees tie together at the legs. They had made sure that his joints had been tied off so that he couldn't get any kind of leverage to break free, even if he somehow managed to draw the strength to do so.

Words spoken in Mandarin made his head ache in pain, lots of voices were speaking in Mandarin around him, and all of them sounded angry to him. They were standing him up, and he blinked once or twice to get his eyes to focus as he pushed the pain down. An old man dressed in farmer clothes shouted something across the rice patty his father had fled, pointing at Ranma before shouting back over at the forestry.

Ranma looked over toward the woods for any sign of his father. His father wouldn't leave him behind, he was his son, after all. The old man was greedy, and maybe a tough task master when it came to his martial arts training, and really didn't read through or plan ahead for anything, but he was his son. Dad's watched out for their son's, right?

"Pop?" Rama called out weakly, earning him a smack to the back of his head where he had been struck and making his pain triple from the blow. He was shook by his collar and screamed at in Mandarin, before the old man who had been shouting at the forest earlier motioned for someone behind Ranma to bring him forward.

Dragged to the head of the people, Ranma was lofted up in arms that were corded from the work of a farmer who lived by his strength. The old man shouted in Mandarin again, shaking Ranma like a rag doll as Ranma continued to stare at the woodline.

"Pop?" Ranma tried to shout over the old man. Maybe if his father heard him and realized that he had forgot his son, he'd come back for him. "Pop? Where are you? Help me!"

Ranma called a few more times even as the old man who was holding him aloft started to taper off. Ranma continued to call for minutes afterwards as grumbling started up behind him, and Ranma was tossed to the dirt. Coughing from the impact, Ranma begged once again as he was grabbed by his bindings and pulled back into the ring of people around him.

"Who, you?" The man who had been holding him in the air demanded from Ranma, his old, grizzled face peering down at him with a look that promised pain. The fact that his Japanese was so broken as to sound like he was reading it for the first time from a translation dictionary didn't help.

"Saotome Ranma." Ranma answered, scared out of his mind that his Oyaji had still not come back for him yet.

"Who, man?" The grizzled man again spoke, pointing off in the direction Genma had run.

"He's my pops." Tears were starting to leak from the corners of his eyes as many people continue to grumble angrily.

Ranma was shaken roughly and slapped in the face as the old man demaned once again, "Who, man?!"

"Father!" Ranma shouted at the top of his lungs, not wanting to get smacked again.

The old man's eyes narrowed at the answered and he raised his hand to silence the people before looking back down at Ranma with barely contained anger. "You, student?" The tone of his voice was barely civil, and held a harsh edge to it.

Ranma nodded his head vigorously at the answer, hoping that whatever they were going to do to him, it wouldn't involve getting beat anymore. Ranma cringed as the old man stood up and shouted out a few lines in Mandarin that had the people around him start shouting at the tops of their lungs. Ranma was really, really hoping that Genma would show up really soon and save him.

He was dragged by the ropes binding him back into the village screaming. Panic washed out the world as he struggled in his bonds to get away from these people, clawing at the ropes as best as he could and feeling his fingernails simply rub off the well taken care of bindings. They stood him up and placed another rope around his neck as he continued to scream in fear, his bowel control long lost as they had taken him back into the town.

Ranma barely made out over the screaming that both he and the villagers were making, "You, son, thief. Thief, no good. No more, thief."

The rope around his neck cinched tightly, cutting off his terror filled scream as his body was hoisted into the air. His lungs were already screaming to vent the contained air inside of him as his neck began to stretch from his own body weight. Sight went quickly as he struggled and flailed, wiggling his body back and forth as he fought for anything he could possibly get his feet under or his hands around to give him a brief moment to take a breath of air. He blinked away tears that continued to spill away as for a brief moment, his eyesight focused in on a lone figure nearly the tree line in a white gi that stood and watched as Ranma was slowly hung to unconsciousness.

-

His eyes opened to a star filled sky masked with the foliage of several trees. Not totally blocking out the sight of the darkness above him, the trees seemed to be trying to claw out the futile light of the pinpricks of the stars were shedding.

He was breathing, or at least he thought he was. His body ached, his throat was parched and raw, he smelled of his own bodily waste, but he was fairly sure he wasn't dead. A Shinto priest had briefly explained that paradise was a place where pain didn't exist, before they were run out of the temple when it had been discovered that Genma had been stealing their scrolls for techniques.

He sat up slowly, pain screaming through him. Checking himself over, he took no note to the body sleeping nearby to him, wrapped in its own blanket and snoring away fitfully. His wrists showed the remains of rope burns, as did his ankles. He reached up for his neck only to freeze in terror as he felt the coarse hemp of the noose still around his throat. The brief tracing of the fiber scraped at the rope burn that had branded itself into his neck, and set off the agony all over again of his hanging.

Looking down, the last foot of rope that was looped through the eye of the noose was hanging down across his tiny chest. Cut and frayed at the bottom as if a blade of some type had severed the rope, it had been left on him instead of removed and tossed away. His emotions slowly shut down one at a time as he looked over at the sleeping mass across from him, on the other side of the fire pit that was now smoldering from going out on its own.

Genma Saotome slept the sleep of the dead, discarded pieces of chewed food laying nearby his prone body as he sawed away with his snores. His glasses were the only thing about him that looked even remotely taken care of as they had been placed reverently on top of his backpack nearby, close at hand in case a quick exit was necessary. Normally Genma would sleep next to him, but the fact that he slept across from him made the ache in his young heart all the worse.

Getting up as quietly as he could, he walked over to his neglected pack, which looked like it had been tossed haphazardly to the ground. He reached inside and pulled out the only other set of clothing he had, his back up gi, and switched clothing, but not before washing off his body with a canteen and his now ruined first gi. Tossing the clothing away and from the camp, he went back to where he had awoken and laid down, not bothering to bring his own blanket with him, or the bedroll with it. He left the rope around his neck, not seeing any reason why he should get rid of it if Genma didn't see any reason for it.

Laying in the dirt, he stared up at the night as the last of his tears flowed from his eyes. Ranma Saotome had died hanging in a tree by his neck for a crime he hadn't even committed. The noose around his neck would be the only piece of Ranma left, an effigy to an innocence lost.

-

(Current Time – Kasumi Tendo's Room, 4:30 A.M.) (Lime Warning)

Kasumi dreamed peaceful dreams of when she had been younger and the family had been whole. Of when mother had been alive and they didn't have to be adults before their time. She dreamed of helping her mother out in the kitchen, learning to do the things that big girls do while Nabiki worked on her math at the dining table in the living room. Akane was out in the backyard with their father, Soun, as she mimicked his martial arts kata, her own bright yellow gi in contrast to the earthy brown that their father wore.

She watched as her mother sliced the vegetables up that were going to go with the food for dinner before she started to prepare the fish that would join them. She listened carefully as her mother spoke to her, showing her slowly how each piece was cut, prepared, cooked, and eventually moved to the dishes for everyone's meals.

Her heart danced in happiness at the smile on her mother's face as she continued to work slowly, taking Kasumi's hands and showing her how to cut the fish, how to hold the fish, the right amount of seasoning to add to it, and then to how long to cook it for and how hot. The feel of those ever so gentle hands holding onto her smaller ones were like a warm blanket to her as the caring her mother wrapped her house in made all the sad things outside go so far away.

Her dream shifted as a different set of hands reached around her, hugging her from behind as a firm body held onto her with the same care as her mother had given her, but if a different way. She continued to cook with a smile that had become a mask literally, her real face hidden behind the porcelain copy of herself with its painted on smile. The mask felt so heavy to her, and was hidden with all the unhappy things that had been outside, but were now inside her house.

Her house.

She looked around through the eyelets of the mask, seeing Akane standing out in the grass of the backyard by herself, her gi changed from the bright, happy yellow to an angry, bloody red. Her face was twisted to that of an Oni's, though there was no horn to show such allegiances.

Soun wore a white funeral robe as he sat at the table, looking as dead as a man could. Skin the ash white of the deceased, his hair had lost that bright, glossy sheen of being well kept. If anything, he looked like he was waiting for someone to bury him in the ground to be with his wife.

Nabiki also sat at the table, though for very different reasons. Bills were stacked before her sister, premature age had suffused her face with lines of worry while she wore shackles of yen coins tied off to an old style abacus. On the strings used to calculate out cost, coins of gold had replaced the beads and glinted with false hope even as Nabiki tried and tried to make the pile of bills before her balance out even as more and more appeared.

Genma sat at the table as well, though he looked no different from his every day self. He held chopsticks expertly in his fingers, smiling brightly at Kasumi even as a wooden sign popped over his shoulder asking _'Where's the beef?'_. The fact that he didn't seem to have even pulled it out with his hands didn't even seem wrong with her, though it should have.

Turning back to her cutting board, she screamed in fright as Ranma laid where the fish had been that she had been preparing for the evening meal. He laid there, his face blank as he stared up at her with sad blue eyes that had seen too much.

Kasumi gasped as she woke up from the dream turned nightmare. Nearly jumping up in terror, she shivered uncontrollably as the horror of what she had been doing set her heart racing. She had only a moment to despair at her lot in life when arms that had been wrapped around her pulled her back into a hard frame. Shock and confusion warred with her at the gentleness of the touch and for a moment she feared that she had woken up in Tofu's clinic from another of her 'payments' after the doctor had been a little too enthusiastic with her.

"Kasumi..." A mumbled voice sighed in her ear that was very male. It wasn't the voice she was fearing in her sleep, the warm breath causing goosebumps to rise along her exposed neck.

_'Ranma-kun...'_ Kasumi sighed slowly as she realized that she was at home, and had been asleep in her bed until the dream had woken her up. She glanced up at the clock briefly to see that the alarm had not been set before she had fallen asleep in Ranma's arms last night and was glad at the nightmare for at least waking her up at the appropriate time to begin getting things ready for her family.

She reached down for Ranma's arms, hoping to remove herself from his embrace when she felt a shock rush through her body when Ranma's hands twitched on her. Stifling the gasp, she languished in the feel of him against her as his grip squeezed her lovingly. His right arm had reached around and under at some point last night, reaching across her chest and had cradled one of her breasts in his hand, most likely seeking some kind of warmth as they had slept on top of the covers instead of under them.

The next time his hands reflexively squeezed, she bit her lip as she moaned. She reached down to her belly button and placed her hand gently on Ranma's as his fingers scratched insistently with the pads of his fingers, rubbing into her sensitive skin above her maidenhood. Her legs were trying to wrap around his hand as they squeezed together, her hips rocking toward his touch even as he scooted his body up against hers from behind.

His nose rested on the back of her, near where the shoulder met with the neck. His face nuzzled against the skin and she shivered for other reasons as a fire ignited in her body and she moaned once more, slightly louder than before. He inhaled with his nose slowly, shutting Kasumi's mind down as his lips brushed her skin. "Kasumi..." Ranma called her name once again next to her ear, and she could feel a need starting to build.

She pressed back into his body in want, forgetting about the house, her family, forgetting about everything outside of her bed and the two body's that were occupying it. She hadn't felt this in a long time, not just feeling attractive, but feeling desired in a way as only a man could make a lonely woman feel. Placing her hands over top of Ranma's she pressed his grip harder into her body as she closed her eyes and reveled in feeling alive in so very long. "Oh, Ranma-kun..."

A whole new rigid rushed through the body behind her, a different kind of firmness that wasn't pleasant at all. The hands on her body locked in place and motion, as if the brain had finally caught up with what the hands had been doing while it had been out, and the sound of a body throwing itself into the wall followed by the form leaping over hers had her blinking in confusion.

He stood, disheveled and spooked out of his mind as he took a wide stance, fear laced in a thin layer of terror had him glancing around the room for escapes. Kasumi sat up slowly, making sure not to move in too exaggerated a way as to frighten Ranma anymore than he seemed to be. She reached out toward Ranma, his name on her lips when her bedroom door resounded with a knock that sent the pigtailed boy scrambling for her bedroom window, throwing it open harshly before bolting out of it and into the morning air.

Nodoka opened the door quickly at the sound of the window slamming open on the frame and caught the briefest view of a foot disappearing out the window, her hand gripping the hilt of her sword tightly as she rushed to the window to try to identify the intruder. "Are you alright, Kasumi dear? That person didn't take any liberties with you, did he?"

The moment shattered, Kasumi stifled the frustration she wished she could utter as Nodoka continued to peer out her window. "I wish he had..." Kasumi muttered, getting a confused gaze from Ranma's mom.

(End Lime)

-

"It was considerate of you to take care of the debts owed, Ranma," Nabiki began as they walked to school that morning, "did you have to scare so many of them, though? It's gonna hard enough to get them to make more bets now that you've terrified them so badly."

"Sorry, Nabiki-san..." Ranma spoke contritely, head down.

Nabiki rubbed his down turned head in a placating manner. "You did good, just don't be so harsh doing it next time. If you want to help out, I'll show you how its done when we go home."

Akane watched her sister making over Ranma as if he was a kicked puppy, truly wondering if the boy was right in the head. Ever since he had come into their household, she had a distinct dislike for him, though due to her own contact with those boys around her all the time. Watching Ranma get treated like Nabiki's possession instead of a person did still fill her with a slight dislike for how passive he was, but having watched Kasumi spar with Ranma, she had seen a confidence in him that fit more with her perception of boys.

She couldn't call him a pervert too much, after all, grappling is a close contact art, especially the family art of indiscriminate grappling. He didn't hold on any longer than he should have, performing the tosses, counters, and blocks of the art with a clean efficiency that left her slightly envious. Heck, even the few that he demonstrated seemed to be a lot less than she herself performed.

The fact that Kasumi and Nabiki were getting close to him irked her a lot. He was practically a stranger, and though his mom was the paragon of feminine beauty and justice, her sister's seemed to want the boy to touch them in all sorts of inappropriate ways. Having Nabiki treat her like a stranger was upsetting her even worse than the first day that Ranma had come to their house. Even gentle Kasumi had turned to the art and had dueled her to a standstill in open combat that one time they had fought.

Sometimes, she would see Kasumi walking around with this weird cooking pan in her hand that kinda glowed with its own light, and it wasn't even in the kitchen with her but was around her at weird parts of the day. She'd never gotten any pot to do anything like that before, well, unless she was cooking with it at the time being.

"Hey, Jackass." Akane, Ranma, and Nabiki came to a stop at the entrance as Ukyo stood up from where she had been leaning against the entranceway. Walking over to Ranma, she stared at him with a firm glare.

"Good morning, Kuonji-san. Did you like the gift Ranma bought you?" Nabiki asked politely, watching the chef with a critical gaze.

Staring at Ranma's clueless face, she grit her teeth before pushing a crumpled note and a white ribbon into his chest with force. "You made good on my clothes, but don't think I've begun to forgive you or your bastard of a father, Saotome." She started to walk off before looking over her shoulder at him. "That little sob story from your 'friend' doesn't mean anything. As far as I'm concerned, we've still got a score to settle."

Ranma frowned sadly, holding onto the note and the ribbon carefully in his hands.

"Geez, ya think she'd be a little appreciative for what she got." Akane commented as she watched Ukyo walk into school, wearing the new clothes that Ranma had bought her.

"Some people just don't see what happens to be right in front of their face, Akane." Nabiki commented, walking past Akane with a smirk.

Akane nodded slowly before blinking as Ranma walked beside Nabiki under a cloud of depression. "Hey, wait, what's that supposed to mean?"

-

"Ranma," Ms. Hinako called out to the sex changing student of her class as the lunch bell rang, "I'd like to have a word with you, if that's alright."

Ranma looked over his shoulder at his teacher, staring at her momentarily before nodding and saying a few words to the two girls he normally sat with at lunch. Walking back into the classroom after closing the door behind him, he walked over to the nearest desk to Hinako before taking a seat in it and giving her his undivided attention.

She watched him for a moment, seeing that the previous depression he had walked in with at the start of school had disappeared as the day went on till it was nearly gone. Organizing her thoughts, she cleared her throat before asking Ranma, "How are things going for you at home?"

Ranma blinked at his teacher, scratching at the back of his pigtail as he thought about his answer. After several seconds, he placed his hand back in front of himself and shrugged to Hinako. "Training is good, helping Kasumi is good, Nabiki was sick but is better." Ranma thought a bit longer as Hinako watched him as he bit down on the inside of his cheek. "Kaa-san seems to be upset about something."

Hinako nodded, sliding her fingers together as she looked at Ranma with a considering gaze. "What about yourself? How are you, Ranma?" When Ranma simply blinked at her, she coaxed him by saying, "I heard that you tried taking over Nabiki's 'business' while she was sick. A lot of the students are a bit scared of you now."

Ranma winced before ducking his head. "I only wanted to help Nabiki-san." he said, speaking weakly.

"I understand that, Ranma, which is why nothing more is going to be said about it." _'Maybe this will teach some of them to curb their delinquent tendencies some.'_ Hinako thought to herself. "May I make a suggestion that would help out Ms. Tendo some without resorting to extortion in her place?" Ranma looked up at Hinako, a slight bit of curiosity on his face. "May I suggest getting a job and helping to bring money in to your household legitimately?"

Ranma ducked his head at this. "I tried doing that, they said that they'd rather not have me go back to the pit fights."

Hinako stared at him for a moment before she shook her head. It surprised her that Ranma had experiences in such places, but put that to a bad family environment. _'Looks I may have to make another house visit in the near future.'_ "Actually, Ranma, I was talking about a job that you work daily at to earn money, not someplace you go to fight for money."

Ranma blinked at Hinako. "I can get a job?" Ranma spoke in all seriousness to Hinako.

"Technically, no." Hinako sighed, marveling at the simplicity that Ranma seemed to exist at. "However, there is a student in your class that could allow you to work for her, since it is her business. Normally, the school would frown on students having jobs as it would detract from their education. That Ms. Kuonji is still able to maintain a grade point average better than a C+ is a testament to her efficiency."

Ranma ducked his head once again. "Ukyo-san is very upset with me." The look on his face was one if pained distress that piqued Hinako's curiosity.

"If I spoke to her to accept you for a job, would you work for her?" Hinako asked Ranma, watching for any reaction from him.

Ranma nodded morosely to Hinako. "If Ukyo-san wished for me to work for her, then I will do as she wants."

Hinako frowned at the answer Ranma gave her. It sounded more along the lines of being forced into something other than wanting to do it for his own reasons. "If you don't want to work for Ms. Kuonji, there may be other places to work at."

Ranma frowned as he kept his eyes lowered to his desk in front of himself. "I don't believe that she'd want me working for her."

Hinako sighed before gesturing at Ranma. "Go ahead and head to lunch, I'll talk to Ukyo at some point and either she or I will let you know, OK Ranma?"

Standing up from his seat, Ranma sketched a quick bow to Miss Hinako before opening the window and jumping from it to the grounds below. Hinako's eyebrow twitched at Ranma's exit. "If I didn't think he could survive a drop like that, I would probably be a lot more cross with him."

-

Nabiki frowned heavily as she stood in the dojo alongside her two sisters. She didn't belong in the dojo, maybe as a bystander or as an impartial judge for a match, but definitely not in any official sense, like as a student. She pulled at the plain white gi on her chest as she watched the diminutive headmaster pace in front of all of them.

"I see that I can't leave it to my students to teach in my stead anymore." Happosai groused as he marched in front of the three Tendo siblings, Genma and Soun kneeling on the other side of the room, Nodoka in her kimono was kneeling near at hand for the girl's safety, whereas Ranma stood in the doorway, watching. "I've obviously done something wrong when it came to training my two disciples in the Art." Happosai gave a scathing glare to Genma, who began sweating bullets, and a considering one to Soun, who meekly ducked his head.

"If you're wondering where Cologne is at, she is indisposed training someone Rana's age in a village technique in case Ranma were to ever get out of control again." Happosai glanced at Ranma when the boy ducked his head in shame. "As such, you three girls will have someone in here to assist me at all times while we are training in the dojo."

"Exactly why all three of us?" Nabiki asked, raising a hand in front of her. "I didn't continue my lessons for a reason."

"And because of that reason, Ranma has placed himself in harm's way for you on a few occasions." Nabiki winced as Happosai nodded sagely to her. "I may not have seen it with my own eyes, but I've heard enough people talking to get most of it. As such, all of you will be learning to not only defend yourself, but will bringing your general reflexive and evasion skills up so that you can keep yourselves at least in good health if you do nothing else."

"Will you be teaching us any flashy maneuvers?" Akane asked hopefully, nearly bouncing on the balls of her feet in anticipation of showing off her talent.

"Absolutely not, and if I hear anything so stupid again, I'll show you the meaning of 'I'm sorry, Master. Please forgive me'." Happosai shivered, having felt the hostility and resentment in Akane's developing ki. "It's one thing to defend yourself, it's another thing to break a person who can't defend himself from you."

"That doesn't make any sense." Akane frowned at the short gnome. "How are we supposed to be defending ourselves if we don't hurt those perverts?"

"Like this." Happosai beckoned Akane toward him. She blinked at the old pervert for a second before glancing to her sisters. Kasumi smiled at her, and Nabiki shrugged, before Akane locked eyes with Happosai and lunged at him, fist cocked back.

She blinked in surprise from her upside down position between her father and Mr. Saotome. Her fist was in front of her, throw perfectly, and yet she had been tossed over the little letch without her realizing she had been thrown.

"That's how you should be defending yourself." Happosai said as he twirled his pipe in his hand before making it disappear into his gi with a flourish. "What you saw was a simple judo move, though not in the same fashion as a traditional judo throw, it still disoriented the person thrown and left you with plenty of room to get away. Also, if Akane will get up from the floor," Happosai eyed her as she turned around and knelt between her father's before Happosai continued, "It didn't hurt them any more than necessary. It could be used to hurt someone with more force behind it, but I think you understand the lesson."

Kasumi nodded whereas Nabiki eyed Happosai distrustfully. Glancing from Akane, who was motioned to rise and rejoin her sister. "Not that I don't mind the lessons, but exactly how are we going to learn how to throw someone? You're not exactly the same height as we are."

Happosai nodded at Nabiki's question. "My size is a bit different from yours, which means that I'll only be showing you the motions. Kasumi and Akane will help each other with some directions from me. As for you, since you've admitted to having the least experience between the three of you, either your father, Genma, or Ranma will be assisting you in your lessons until your level of skill increases."

Nabiki could deal with her father teaching her, frowned when Genma's name had been mentioned, and smiled cattily at her elder sister when Ranma's name had been mentioned. Kasumi smiled happily at Nabiki's good fortune, though the frying pan that appeared in her sister's hand proved that Kasumi wasn't too thrilled about not training with the pigtailed boy.

"Master Happosai." Nodoka spoke, drawing the eyes of the dojo to her. Her husband winced at her voice and he began to dry sweat profusely. "I would like some time to train Kasumi in weapon's style combat, if that is alright with you."

"Auntie Saotome?" Kasumi asked, earning her a polite smile from Nodoka.

"Her mother was a practioner of her own style, much like the Anything Goes, only with weapons. I think that is why Akane has an affinity for a war hammer and Kasumi's is with the Naginata." Nodoka watched as Happosai eyed the two girls mentioned. "If Nabiki were to gain some experience, maybe even she would show her talents in such fields. Until then, I would request some time to teach them some weapons skills, if they would wish to learn."

Happosai murmured as he rubbed his jaw. "Your reasoning is sound. I don't have a problem with it. It will allow me to have a nice, long refresher course with my original two students." Happosai's grin was anything but nice as he pinned his boys with his glare. "we're going to get reacquainted with each other all over again, aren't we boys?"

"Of course, Master." Soun and Genma bowed to him, Genma's much faster than Soun's.

-

"Something's been bothering you ever since you woke up this morning, Kasumi." Nodoka commented as she watched Kasumi move stiffly through her weapon kata. The dojo had been emptied out by now, leaving the eldest women of the household to continue for a little longer by themselves in private.

Kasumi hesitated with a thrust, feeling her stance come unbalanced before she sighed and brought her practice weapon back up beside her. "It was..." Kasumi started, wondering if this was a ladylike conversation and wondering if she should be ashamed to be discussing this with Ranma's mother of all people. "May I confide something in you without you thinking me unladylike, Auntie?"

Nodoka wanted to snort at the very thought of Kasumi being unladylike. If anything, she was too ladylike, and held to a rigid set of morals that a samurai from the old days would be hard pressed to follow. "I'm sure that whatever is said within these walls will not be discussed outside of them."

Kasumi nodded before blurting out what was on her mind before her better judgment prevented her from speaking. "Have you ever lusted after a man, Auntie?"

Nodoka's hair toinged out of place. "Lusted?" she asked, slightly dazed from the conversation.

Kasumi bit at her lower lip before continuing. "I feel...things... when Ranma is around. Personal things." She couldn't tell Nodoka how her body reacted around her son. "I've never been with a man before, and yet..." She wanted to strip him bare on the kitchen table and partake of the meal that is Ranma. "Even when he was holding me this morning, I..." wished the room had been soundproofed and she had rolled over, returning the favor Ranma did for her. "Is it a bit warm in here?" Her gi felt very itchy...

Nodoka could only blink for a few moments as she processed what Kasumi was telling her. Normal, every day, little milksop Kasumi telling her such scandalous things. She smiled as she watched the oldest of the Tendo daughters fidget in place as she couldn't seem to decide what to do with herself.

"I take it that you haven't told Ranma, yet." Nodoka smiled politely while she was dancing in her head. Grandbabies weren't that far off a dream anymore.

"Oh, I...I couldn't." Kasumi blushed brightly, turning her head in embarrassment from Nodoka. Confessing to Ranma what she wanted to do to him to his face? She'd rather go find a nice filled in hole out in the yard and pull the newly repaired walls down on top of her while she laid at the bottom. "He's had such a hard life."

"Oh, stop it, Kasumi." Nodoka tsked as she came over and took the practice Naginata away from the girl, moving over to the weapons stand. "Ranma's life may have been hard, but he's not going to get over it if you constant help him to remember that past." She turned around and placed her hands on her hips as Kasumi fiddled with her fingers, looking even more meek than usual. "Help him have memories that are not as bad as what my idiot of a husband has given him. I've seen how his eyes light up when he helps you, or even when he thinks you don't notice him when he helps you out."

Nodoka walks over to Kasumi and wraps her in her arms as she rubs the eldest Tendo's back. "Even if you don't do anything about it now, I promise you that he will want to sooner or later. He's speaks so often now around us instead of just sitting there and staring off into wherever it is he goes." Stepping back, she holds Kasumi's arms at her elbows and gives her a bright smile. "For what it's worth from a lonely, old woman, I thank you for taking care of my son."

Akane stuck her head into the dojo. "Does anyone know what Ranma's cooking for dinner? He's been in the kitchen for a few minutes now and seems to be waiting for something to happen."

"Oh, dear. I forgot about dinner." Kasumi fussed as she bowed quickly to Nodoka before heading for the dojo door, where Akane disappeared back toward the house.

"Bath first, little girl. I'll get the food out for tonight before joining you." Nodoka called after Kasumi before heading for the house herself. It was almost like everyone in the house was her family already.

-

Nabiki laid on her bed, feeling the tension in her muscles starting to unwind. The bath waters had done their job relaxing her and soothing the strain in her body that simple exercise couldn't keep fit. Honestly, it was more work than it was worth, going back over the finer points of self defense.

The fact that she got to grapple and wrestle against Ranma's body was the only saving grace. He was an average height for someone in Nerima in general, though his body was built way tougher than anyone she knew. Also, with all the muscle he was packing on his frame, he was not easy to toss, even when she had been shown the correct way to do it. She was fairly sure that last throw she got off was assisted by Ranma jumping with it, making the throw easier on her.

The knocking on the door announced the only person she was expecting tonight before bed. Calling for them to come in, she glanced up as Ranma walked into the room before he closed the door behind himself. He turned and stood waiting at the doorway for him to have a seat. She sighed into her pillow at Ranma, wondering what it would take for him to loosen up, but at least he had some manners instead of assuming he could sit anywhere he wanted.

Moving carefully and propping herself up on the bed, Nabiki patted the bed beside her, prompting Ranma to have a seat next to her."So, Saotome, let's talk about what you were doing for me while I was sick." Nabiki began, talking calmly and evenly as she watched Ranma for any reactions. "I was told that you tried to help me out by collecting some debts. My books showed that those debts were collected, but the way that it was done was a bit rough around the edges."

Ranma winced before nodding slowly, looking down at his hands in front of himself.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about." Nabiki smiled and patted his head softly. "Everyone has to try at some point, and although you did try, it didn't turn out so well, which isn't a bad thing. Now that you saw how not to do it, I've been thinking." Ranma looked up at her hopefully, with a sad puppy dog look. "How would you like to work for me for awhile? I can show you the ropes, and show I get sick again, you'll know exactly what to do and how to do it."

Ranma blinked at her a few times before playing with his fingers. Frowing at him as he seemed to be working through some inner dilemma, Nabiki touched him on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Did something happen at school that makes this a bad idea?" Nabiki asked, wondering if someone was taking advantage of Ranma without her knowing about it.

Ranma seemed to consider for a moment before turning to Nabiki, facing her with his body. "Hinako sensei asked me earlier if I would like to get a job to help out the Tendo family." Nabiki's neck bristled at the audacity of Ranma's homeroom teacher. "Hinako sensei believes that I should help out legally instead of getting involved with Nabiki-san's business."

Nabiki frowned. Ms. Ninomiya did have a point, and bad things had happened because of her business in things best left for criminals. Still, Nabiki had learned her lessons about such activities and wasn't about to subject Ranma into those dealings if she had anything to do about it. Also, the fact that Ranma was thinking about a job personally offended her. Not for the fact that Ranma was actively looking to help support himself within her family, but that Nabiki had been the bread winner since their mother died. To have someone not depend on her made her feel useless, and Nabiki Tendo was anything but useless.

"It's up to you if you want to get a job or not, and I won't deny that it would help everyone out if it happened." Nabiki watched Ranma nod as she continued, choosing her words carefully. "It's just that... being in High School is difficult enough without failing your classes and keeping a job at the same time. I'm sure that your mom would tell you to do what is right, but you have to consider that you have to be able to take care of yourself first before you can take care of anyone else. Do you understand?"

Ranma seemed to ponder Nabiki's words carefully in his head, his head tilting one side, then the other as he went over everything he had listened to before he nodded wit some semblance of certainty instead of simply nodding. She smiled at him, stroking his cheek fondly before shifting over to him and laid her head against his chest. She felt him start to stroke her hair carefully before beginning to rub with more and more confidence. She liked this newer Ranma, now if only she could get him to stop speaking to her formally.

* * *

**I can see I should have elaborated this better with Nodoka and Kasumi.**

**Kasumi's not lying about being with a man. Anyone who rapes a person may be considered a 'man' in the loosest sense of the word, but taking a woman's innocence in my own evaluation, is not a classification for being a man. My own view on being a man is a bit off as it is, considering that I think a person should be able to keep the work they give, and let no excuse make it sound like they couldn't do what they said they could. Kasumi, in those terms, has not ben with a man, even if she has been deflowered.**

**Course, that's just my reasoning.  
**


	21. Necessary Steps

**I'm not dead yet, but you wish I was! Another chapter, nearly two months later, God, I'm Slow! There will be no abusing Ranma this time, but there will be a brief fight with Genma and his Grim Reaper! There will also be heavy Lime at the end of the chapter, since this one is broken up into a series of mini events. Thought I'd give you something for all the skips...**

**Disclaimer: Alas, poor Ranma 1/2 ... If only I owned you... I'd be rich now instead...**

**Warning: as mentioned, there is a Lime in this chapter. You will be notified when you reach it...  
**

* * *

"Kaa-san." Ranma called to his mother as she placed the clothing from the wash on the clothesline in the back yard to dry.

"Yes, Ranma-kun?" The dark red headed woman responded, taking the linens for the beds and placing another clothespin in place before moving down the sheet with her hand.

"I need a job." Ranma spoke, watching as his mother hitched, before she tugged on the clothesline to look at her son.

"Who told you that you needed a job?" Nodoka asked, her face concerned at the serious look on her son's face.

Rama shifted in place as he fidgeted with his hands, not looking at her for a moment before giving her a firm look. "Nabiki-san isn't making the money she used to. I am a guest here. It would be right to pay back their hospitality."

Nodoka smiled from behind the sheet. Her son was trying to pay back the kindness the Tendo's had given him. Soon enough, he'd be dating one of the Tendo girls, and then... She nearly squealed in delight before clearing her throat. "I understand your wish to repay the Tendo's, dear, but I can provide for the both of us."

Ranma frowned in the direction of his mother. Unable to convince her of the need to work, he got up from the kitchen step and headed into the house.

* * *

"A job?" Soun asked, placing his newspaper down to look at Ranma.

"Hai." Ranma answered, bowing slightly. "I wish to help out with the house, as I am living here as well."

"But you help Kasumi out with the cooking, and there's also the fact that you're teaching the girls under the Master's supervision." Soun wondered what was going through the boy's mind, suddenly asking about a job. "Isn't that enough?"

Rama stared into Soun's eyes for several seconds before bowing politely to the father of the house. "Sorry to disturb you." Ranma rose to his feet and headed out to the dojo, the sounds of full scale combat underway.

* * *

"I know a job you can do for me." The diminutive grand master of Anything Goes let his eyes sparkle as he dreamed. "Go out and bring me lots of silken darlings for my collection. None of that polyester stuff neither, I can tell the difference!" Happosai batted Genma's attack away from him before bopping the fat man on the head with his pipe, slamming the larger man into the floor with tremendous force.

Ranma eyed both the small master and his father, Happosai deciding to take advantage of Genma's prone form by jumping onto the splayed body of his student to have a comfortable smoke.

"Will I get paid?"Ranma asked, glancing down at his father as the larger man twitched underneath of Happosai.

"The gratitude of your grandmaster isn't enough incentive?" Happosai asked casually as he crossed his arms grandly, mulling over what he should do. "Tell ya what, I'll give you the best out of all the garments you gather me, or better yet, I'll pick one out for you. If your mother is any indication, then your female form has to be a looker as well."

Ranma frowned at the little man.

* * *

Sitting on the roof of the Tendo Dojo, Ranma was weighing his options. His mother refused to give him any options about working, taking it upon herself to provide for the both of them while they lived under the Tendo's household. Soun, gentle soul that he was, wouldn't think about allowing Ranma to make money to help provide for the extra bills he had brought him his coming.

Happosai's answer was only good for Happosai.

The next step would have been going to Cologne for a job as a waitress, but with her being off on a training journey, there would be no money until she 's Okonomiyaki was effectively out until Ms. Hinako talked to Ukyo, and even then, Ranma didn't hold out much hope of Ukyo allowing him to work at her establishment until the Amazons came back.

That left him with one recourse.

* * *

"Kasumi." Ranma called to her from the doorway toward the foyer. The eldest daughter looked up from preparing lunch to smile brightly at the raven haired boy.

"Yes, Ranma-kun?" Kasumi answered sweetly, tilting her head to the side in a coquettish fashion.

"I'll be late tonight." Ranma answered, looking Kasumi in the face with his storm blue eyes. He bowed to her slightly before turning for the front door and walking out toward the street beyond.

Kasumi frowned as Ranma disappeared, a nagging worry lighting up in the back of her head. "Hurry back..." Kasumi reflexively called out to Ranma, even though the boy had already left the house.

* * *

"As no one seems to know when Ranma is coming back, we'll begin without him." Happosai announced to the three girls as he took up a spot before them. The girls all knelt in front of Happosai, watching him. "You all understand the basic concept of martial arts and how the body needs to not only be limber enough to evade your foe, but also resilient enough to take a strike should not be able to evade your opponent. Today's lesson will be on the aspects of Ki and what it can be used for.

"For starters, there are the three basic forces in everything. Ki, Chi, and Chakra." Happosai said as he raised his hand up, holding three fingers in the air. "The first is Chi. This can be found everywhere around you. This dojo, for instance, is leaking a small amount of Chi from it. It was made of things found in nature and still holds those life energies from when it was a part of nature, thereby giving off a weak amount of Chi.

"The Second," Happosai held up to fingers, "is Chakra. This is a fusion of Ki and Chi within your bodies. It is a mixture of internal energies that your Ki and Chi blend together to create this power. Not many people can use Chakra as it is two separate life energies, and even using one of thm takes dedication.

"The final is Ki." Happosai held up all three fingers once again. "This is your energy that your body makes daily. It is your life essence, in the strictest possible sense of the term, and yet it is so much more than that. Ki can be used in various ways, the most obvious is through emotion. A very good example of that would be those weapons I've seen Kasumi and Akane with from time to time."

Kasumi blushed lightly while Akane sat up a bit more proudly at being able to use Ki. "It is also the worst aspects of using Ki." Happosai sighed, shaking his head while Kasumi and Akane looked confused.

"I don't understand." Akane spoke. "Isn't it supposed to show what kind of skill you have if you can draw on your Ki?"

"Normally, yes." Happosai nodded, as did Soun and Genma, who sat behind Happosai. "Unfortunately, your focus is what is so bad about using those weapons. Go ahead and create them, if you can."

Kasumi's frying pan popped into her hand without hesitation, and she held it close to her as she waited for Akane. The youngest Tendo reached unsuccessfully over her shoulder for her weapon, which would not manifest, no matter how hard she tried.

"Maybe this will help." Happosai spoke as he pulled out a pair of white panties with a small, black piglet imprinted on the back of them.

Akane's mallet was out faster than most eyes could follow and had slammed into the place Happosai had been standing just moments before, the short sensei now sitting on the other side of the mallet. Akane struggled to raise her weapon and throw the old man off, but it refused to budge.

"That is exactly why your Ki weapons are such a bad aspect." Happosai commented lightly as he put the panties back in his gi, then pulled his pipe out and proceeded to smoke from it. "Akane needs anger to bring out her mallet, which is a negative emotion. The longer you draw on a negative emotion, the more you begin to have nothing but that negative emotion."

Nodoka cleared her throat and gave Happosai an evil, soul searing gaze that promised pain from the doorway of the dojo. Grinning weakly and shrugging his shoulders, Happosai blew a puff of smoke into Akane's face, forcing her to let go of her mallet, which promptly disappeared when her concentration broke.

"To make matters worse, you use your Ki in a strictly offensive way." Happosai pointed out to a coughing Akane. "You've got no defensive skills when using your mallet, even going so far as to be surprised when someone actually evades your first strike and hits you back. With no defense, you leave yourself wide open. I'm actually surprised you haven't killed anyone yet."

"Kasumi is your exact opposite." Happosai pointed out, Kasumi blinking in surprise. "That she could create a Ki weapon from the little training I have understood she had under Ranma goes a long way toward her being a natural with Ki, and I'd hesitate to say, a Master." Nabiki gave her elder sister a studious look that made Kasumi flush in embarrassment. "Her defensive is nearly perfect. Even when creating her weapon, she keeps it held in front of her as if warding off the next strike. If anyone were to fight Kasumi, I'd bet on her every time."

Happosai eyed the middle Tendo daughter for a few moments before coming to a decision about her. "Nabiki, even though she didn't create a Ki weapon, is the happy medium between the sisters. Unfortunately, she has way too much control and not enough power, which is also why she can't create a Ki manifest. If Nabiki ever managed to relax herself enough to let her Ki flow naturally instead of holding it in rigid control, she could probably take both Kasumi and Akane."

Nabiki looked surprised at the short pervert before taking a considering look onto her face. It made sense that she was thew middle daughter and would know her sisters best, but to be able to defeat either one of them in combat? She doubted that.

"Today, light workouts and reviewing your katas." Happosai announced, breaking up the lesson. "Once I find Ranma, we'll get back to actual combat. You may begin when your ready."

* * *

Dinner came and went, the hostility coming off three women at the table focused at Genma nearly made the man lose five pounds in sweat alone. Homework was finished either in their room or at the dining table, Genma and Soun playing a game of Go, Soun doing his best not to cheat at the game, but being forced to after Genma had nearly taken all of his pieces at one point in the game. Happosai was nowhere to be found, which meant he was out doing his perversions on the section of town that was Nerima, to which Nodoka had bodily threatened him that he would wake up even shorter than what he was if he went hog wild and brought shame down on the Tendo household.

By ten thirty that night, everyone was getting ready for bed, though Kasumi was getting worried for Ranma, since the boy had not returned home at all. She knew he said that he would be late getting into home, but no call that he was going to be out this late? The bad feeling she had was getting worse and worse.

"Auntie?" Kasumi called at the door to Ranma and Nodoka's room, Genma being forced to sleep in his own room that was much smaller and far less comfortable. Kasumi was about to knock on the frame when Nodoka opened the door, not yet dressed for bed.

"Yes, Kasumi dear? Is something the matter?" Nodoka had been worried for her son when he hadn't shown himself for dinner, and Kasumi had explained that Ranma had said he might miss the meal, but it was getting very late.

"I'm getting worried about Ranma." Kasumi wrung her hands as she bit at her lip.

"As am I, dear." She glanced down the hall to her husband's room. "Maybe we should have a talk with my _beloved_ husband and see if he might know anything about our child."

Genma was just rolling out his bedroll when Nodoka knocked on the door, turning the knob and pushing it open without waiting for him to answer. "No-chan, something I can do for you?" Genma smiled happily to his wife. Maybe she had finally understood that he wasn't as bad as it seemed?

"You can answer a question for me." Nodoka spoke flatly, giving her spouse a no nonsense stare. "Ranma was talking to me earlier about making money and now has been missing for most of the day. Tell me, Husband dear, how did you and Ranma make money on the road?"

"Money?" Genma scratched his chin in thought. "Didn't earn a lot of money along our trips, not until the boy was old enough to be taken seriously in a fight. Borrowed a lot of stuff..." He didn't see Nodoka's hand clench, but did feel the killer vibe coming from his wife. "Pit fights were pretty much the way to go. If Ranma's off looking to make money, he most likely went to hunt down a pit fight in the area."

Kasumi started fretting with her hands while Nodoka continued to stare her Husband to death.

"It was a good idea at the time." Genma tried to defend himself, throwing his hands up in front of himself as he made excuses. "It made us money and taught the boy to fight with all the skill he had. When he learned that he should be sandbagging his skills, well, we made a lot more money that way."

"Sandbag his skills?" Nodoka hissed, her hair beginning to wave with the amount of raw killer intent she was emitting. "You let him take a beating when he could have beaten his opponents quickly just to line your pockets?"

Genma sweated, getting the feeling that his wife didn't approve. "It wasn't just for the money, it was for the boy, too!"

Nodoka nodded slowly, her eyes closed, but the frown heavy on her face. Genma sighed in relief, believing to have dodged the katana by a very narrow margin. "Sleep well, Husband. In the morning, we will spar very thoroughly." She slid the door closed on his room, leaving Genma to pray for a miracle.

* * *

At approximately one in the morning, the front door of the Tendo house opened, Ranma slipping quietly inside the house before closing the door behind him, placing his shoes on the rack to the side of the foyer before turning around to head upstairs. He nearly jumped when he realized that his mother had somehow moved silently behind him to stand close enough to bump into.

"Ranma, although I know your a growing boy and you have needs all boys have at your age, please try to have them satiated on a Friday or a Saturday and not on a Sunday." Nodoka lightly admonished her son, running her hand lovingly along her son's cheek. Ranma blushed slightly at his mother's words, tilting his head down so that he didn't have to look her in the face. "Are you hurt?" Nodoka asked, Ranma's face tilting back up to look at her shocked before she shook her head at her child. "I know you went out to fight for money again. I wish you wouldn't, but I can only ask you not to get hurt. Did you win?"

"Hai." Ranma announced as he reached into his pants pocket, pulled out a moderate stack of bills. He made to hand them to his mother, but she gently pushed his hand back into his chest.

"That's your money, Ranma." Nodoka smiled at her confused son. "You earned it, so you keep it. What you do with it is your business, and if you wish to pay for your room and board to Mr. Tendo or Nabiki, then you should pay them later. Right now, it's bed time for the both of us."

Ranma smiled happily as he put his money back in his pocket before lightly hopping up the stairs. She smiled wistfully at her son before her grip hardened on her katana. She had a spar in the morning she had to get rest for.

* * *

Morning came early to the Tendo household, even earlier for Ranma as he sensed his mother get up from her bed and dress herself before picking up her family katana. Pulling the blade from it's sheath, she checked the blade carefully, looking for damage or smudges on the blade surface before replacing the blade back in its sheath. She turned to gaze down at her son briefly before heading out of the room and down the hall.

Ranma opening his eyes and glanced toward the doorway, his hearing picking up the sounds of a door opening down the hall followed by the quick yelp of his father. The sound of glass breaking had Ranma up on his feet quickly and down the hallway to the open door of his father's room. Sounds of a fight starting in the backyard of the house had Ranma rush to the window and glance down to confirm what was going on.

Nodoka wasn't giving Genma a chance to fight back as she used both the sheath and the blade to fight Genma. Genma was doing his level best to stay away from his wife's bladed weapon, trying to talk her out of using lethal force against him even as he jumped around the yard, his wife following him seconds later.

"You took our son on a training journey for ten years only to bring Ranma back like you did?" Nodoka hissed at Genma, her blade licking out in a quick double slash. "It's been two months since he's started talking at all around me, his mother!"

"I tried doing what I could to make the boy a man among men." Genma quickly answered ducking and leaping over the quick slashes of his wife as she parried a kick with the sheath, twisting away from his wife as she continued the block in a quick spin that would have left him open to her counter. "When we first left the house, I had to comfort him the best way that I could. When we were in Osaka, we met a okonomiyaki cart seller and his daughter that was able to bring Ranma's spirits up, but he became too attached to the girl and we had to continue our training."

"It had nothing to do with feeding your stomach though, did it?" Nodoka leapt into the air, her kimono popping along the sleeves has her hands blurred. Genma ducked and rolled under her leap, barely missing getting scalped. "I already know about your dealings with that family. That very same daughter Ranma was friends with came looking for him. She's living here in Nerima right this very instant!"

Genma paled, wondering if the girl's father was anywhere around with the daughter. There had been a dowry involved with that child. "I still trained him to be the best martial artist of his age, and I succeeded in doing it, too!" Genma proclaimed, drawing Nodoka up as she sheathed her weapon, but twisted her weapon away from Genma, her gaze murderous.

"Oh, I'll admit, you training him turned him into a very good martial artist..." Nodoka calmly spoke, her eyes glinting in the early morning light. "It also turned him into a person with Ailurophobia! Have you seen the scars on his body? What kind of training method is worth maiming our child the way you did?"

"One has to suffer for their Art to become good!" Genma snapped at his wife, and yelped as her blade sought to slide between his ribs. He grabbed hold of her sheath and whipped her in a judo toss across the yard that she recovered from before turning and staring balefully at her husband.

"And the noose around his neck?" Genma flinched as if physically struck. You can't tell me it's anything but what I see it as. The burn mark in his neck may look old, but I know for a fact that no training is worth nearly killing your child."

Genma couldn't tell her the truth, not about that. Even he knew it was a noose as it had been him to cut Ranma down after he had terrified the villagers from his son. He had to use his forbidden techniques, but it was his son who was dying. He was a lot of things, but he wasn't about to let his child die for his actions.

"Nodoka, I've tried to help Ranma." Genma pleaded to his wife. "After..." he shook his head, skipping over that memory, "Once Ranma was able to continue, I looked for a way to fix Ranma while continuing him in the Art. I did everything I could to look for a way to help our child, and everyone I took him to tried to take him away. He barely remembered you before..." His wife was stalking towards him, but he continued. "He would have been placed in child services and you would never have seen him again. I did what I had to do."

"You brutalized our child." Nodoka growled, her clothes starting to flap as a glow started to surround her. "You took away his humanity for your training journey. From the training manuals we found, he nearly died several times as you continued that failure of a training journey."

"I didn't fail making him into a martial artist of his age!" Genma knew this was the wrong thing to say, but he needed to defend himself. He may have been a failure of a parent, but he didn't fail at making Ranma the best. If he did fail, then everything he'd done...

"You took away his manhood!" Nodoka was crying in frustrations as she glared at her husband, the man she had wanted to be with for the rest of her life. That man was dead to her, and now this falsehood of his memory stood in front of her. "I hate you, Genma Saotome! Kami help me, I hate you with every breath I take, with every ounce of blood in my body! You may have given me a child, our son, but if I had to make a choice, I'd choose never to have known you!"

She sheathed her weapon with force, the sound of the guard on the weapon smacking into the sheath. She watched him for a moment, watching as he looked at the ground in shame, wondering if he even understood what the word meant before she walked toward the house. She didn't look back at Genma as she headed for the bathing area.

Ranma watched for a while longer in silence before heading back inside, leaving a fallen man to his thoughts.

* * *

Nabiki and Ranma stood in front of the school as they watched Akane, though the hentai horde was not the usual victims to Akane's martial skill.

"Vile Harridan, you will relinquish my Ranma-sama!" Kodachi shrieked as she bound around Akane's strikes, using her ribbon as the long range weapon was not meant to be used. Her dark green, almost black, leotard sparkled slightly as the sequins stitched into the fabric hit the light.

"I told you, I don't own Ranma!" Akane shouted as she dodged out of the whip like ribbon's path, the sharp crack of wind as it snapped and recoiled making Akane focus on the weapon's deceptively deadly end. "If you want him, then you can have him!"

"What's going on?" Ukyo asked as she approached Ranma and Nabiki, giving the pigtailed boy a look that dared him to start something.

"Well, it appears that Kodachi, Kuno's little sister, is still convinced that Akane has some hold over Ranma and is here to force Akane to give him up, as it were." Nabiki commented idly as she watched her sister. She hadn't taken any decisive blows yet, which showed that she was starting to get better, but the few cuts to her clothing spoke of a misstep from time to time.

Ukyo eyed Ranma. "She actually wants this jackass?" Glancing back over to the sister of the dim wit kendoist, Ukyo shook her head. "I don't know if that's divine justice, or a sick joke."

Nabiki gave Ukyo a glance from the corner of her eye, a frown quickly hidden from sight. "Ranma does have some good qualities." Nabiki answered idly, watching as her sister kept charging after the dodging gymnast. She had a hunch that Akane was going to run out of steam fairly quickly.

"Name one." Ukyo spoke, continuing to watch the two girls. She could have beaten Kodachi by now, slightly ashamed of Akane's lack of skill. She glanced around at many of the students who were still watching the fight, even thought the warning bell had just rung.

"Well, let's see." Nabiki said, as she tilted hr head back, her finger on her chin in thought. "He works hard around the house, he helps us out with bills for the house, he protected Kasumi and me when we needed him." Nabiki started counting off on her fingers. "He's listened to us when we had no one else to talk to." _'He's got a body I wish I could run my tongue over. His kisses make me wish he'd do it more than just every now and then...'_ Nabiki thought to herself, blushing lightly.

"So he's useful." Ukyo admitted as she glanced at Ranma, who was looking worriedly at the fight.

Nabiki noticed when Akane's legs nearly went out from undrneath of her. Sighing, she shook her head as Kodachi began to take advantage of Akane's stamina. "Better go and save her, Ranma." Ranma's hands clenched into fists and Nabiki quickly added. "Just stop Kodachi, no need to hurt her."

Ranma nodded as he jumped toward the fight, keeping his height low as he intercepted Kodachi's ribbon from wrapping around Akane's neck. He briefly caught the shout from Akane about him interrupting her fight as he tugged on the ribbon, Kodachi too surprised to have simply let go. He wrapped his arms around the struggling Black Rose while Kodachi kicked and tried to claw toward Akane.

"Low born sow!" Kodachi hissed, her face a snarl as she tried to claw Akane's face off. "That you need assistance from my Ranma-sama, truly your..."

Ranma turned her around in his arms and kissed her lips, silencing the harsh words coming from Kodachi. The girl hitched in his arms, her eyes wide as his hands rubbed along her arms before sliding up to her back, cupping her in close to him and preventing her from moving around. She leaned hard into Ranma, staggering him when she pushed firmly into him. His fingers stroked and rubbed slowly, calming her rage and placating her mind.

"What do you think your doing?!" Akane shouted as her mallet materialized. Ranma noticed the weapon and managed to release the still dazed Kodachi, who was off in her own world, just as Akane's weapon swung through, connecting with the gymnast and launching her into a sight seeing trip over downtown Nerima. "You pervert! In public no less?! You're engaged to my sister and this is how you show it?!?"

Ranma ran into school, dodging the enraged girl as he stayed one step ahead of her. The sounds of wood breaking and glass fracturing echoed from the school doorway as Nabiki sighed. _'Really need to talk to Ranma about that...'_

"You were saying?" Ukyo asked flatly.

"Let's just..." The third floor windows of the school blew outward in an explosion. Smoke poured from the rooms where the force of the blast had sent more glass showering down into the grounds. Nabiki stared in surprise at the third floor that was clearly on fire, unsurprised to see Ranma come leaping out of the window with a slightly smoking Akane held in his arms.

Ranma rushed over to Nabiki, placing Akane down on the ground before her sister before stepping back, embarrassed.

Checking her sister quickly, Nabiki sighed in relief. "What happened?" Nabiki asked Ranma, who was looking back up at the third floor of the school.

Ranma blinked in confusion before looking down at Akane. "There was a bomb. Akane hit a pipe in the science lab before the bomb went off. The bomb caught the gas on fire."

_'Well, at least this isn't little sister's fault...'_ Nabiki sighed as she stared at her still incoherent sister.

"Pervert..." Akane muttered, dazed and slightly singed.

* * *

"So, let me see if I understand this." Nabiki spoke at the dinner table of the Tendo household as she looked between Ranma and Kasumi. "Akane's in the hospital being looked over for any kind of problems that may crop up, even though she's not hurt. Aunt Nodoka is at the hospital as well, on duty, but mostly making sure that Akane has someone familiar nearby when she wakes up." Kasumi nodded as Ranma glanced between both of the girls. "Daddy's got an all nighter with the Council because of the school blowing up and Grandfather Happosai is off with Genma doing who knows what, but they're not going to be back tonight..."

"It looks that way." Kasumi sighed, already seeing all the leftovers that dinner was going to leave.

She had already been making dinner when everyone came home from school and explained what had happened. Nodoka had taken Akane to the hospital with her with a tearful Soun before Soun had called back from the hospital letting them know that the Nerima Council was meeting due to the terrorism act at the school and believing that it had something to do with Tofu's clinic. Happosai had returned long enough to grab hold of Genma and drag him off with him, something about monkeys and sticks.

"Well, in that case, I think I'll get a little light exercise in." Nabiki said as she rose to her feet, stretching in front of her sister and Ranma in her too skimpy clothing.

"I'll go ahead and finish dinner." Kasumi announced, making to rise, but being stopped by Ranma's hand on her own.

"I'll finish dinner." Ranma smiled happily to Kasumi, earning a blush from the elder daughter. "Help Nabiki train."

"But I..." It was her duty in the absence of Nodoka to be the mother of the house.

Ranma stood up and smiled to Kasumi before walking into the kitchen, leaving the older girl to open and close her mouth to a silent living room. Sighing to herself and feeling slightly cheated, Kasumi got up and headed off to her room to get her training clothing. Nabiki watched as Kasumi walked off for the stairs, her mind briefly flashing back and over the lesson the previous day with Happosai before she headed out to the dojo.

She stretched out properly once in the dojo, limbering herself up and walking through the very first kata of the new art before Kasumi finally arrived, her sister's hair tied back carefully behind her. Kasumi bowed in to the dojo before walking over nearby Nabiki, limbering herself up as Nabiki continued to walk through her kata. Kasumi watched her sister as she warmed up slowly, observing her little sister carefully.

"You've improved, Nabiki." Kasumi praised as she watched Nabiki walk through the same kata over and over again. Nabiki glanced over at her, but never once sped up or slowed down as she walked through the beginning motions.

"I've got a reason to get better." Nabiki answered, walking through the beginning kata one last time as Kasumi finished stretching out. She waited for Kasumi to stand up and looked her sister over critically. Kasumi had changed subtly without anyone having noticed. She held herself with a confidence she had lacked now, her arms weren't held up in front of her as if instinctively trying to protect herself from the world anymore, but at her sides, as if waiting for any reason to defend herself. "You look different, Nee-chan."

"I also have a reason to grow." Kasumi smiled happily as she tilted her head to the side, the look no longer holding a semblance of ignorant acceptance, but of assuredness. "How would you like to practice?"

Nabiki opened her mouth before catching herself. True, it had been her idea to come out and simply work out to maintain that taut figure of hers that made men drool, but this presented some options she would never have normally considered. Happosai's words crossed her mind lightning quick once againbefore closing her mouth with a click, nodding quickly.

"A spar." Nabiki commented, watching Kasumi's eyes slightly widen in surprise. "Light sparring only, no weapons, basic throws only." She could probably hold her own for a little while and gauge herself to her sister by how long she managed to stand against Kasumi, and at least let her know how much farther she had to go to match her now outgoing sister.

Kasumi thought for a moment before nodding, walking to the center of the dojo as Nabiki followed her. The girls took very different stances for each other, Kasumi stood heaving on her back leg, front leg bent in front of her with only her toes touching the ground. She held both of her hands up in front of herself as if prepared to grab anything that Nabiki would throw at her. Nabiki took a non aggressive stance that was similar to the few times she had watched Ranma fight. She stood on the fronts of her feet, balancing while her arms were held down by her sides, she eyed her sister's clearly defensive stance as she planned her next move.

"When your ready." Kasumi announced, signaling that she was prepared.

Nabiki eyed her sister for a bit longer before stepping forward bodily into Kasumi's space, closing the distance to her without attacking. Kasumi's eyes narrowed as her arms reached out for her sister's shoulders, intending on a leg sweep take down that would be gentle to her sister, wondering why she would do something so foolish. She felt more than saw Nabiki's counter as both of Nabiki's hands lashed in from underneath, catching the elbows of her arms, then separating both of them as she knocked them apart. Kasumi grunted from the impact with the floor as Nabiki performed a toss that sent Kasumi a few feet from where she started.

"Maybe the old pervert was right." Nabiki smiled, a Cheshire grin on her face as Kasumi rose back up to her feet slowly. "Maybe I can beat both my big and little sister."

Kasumi hitched as Nabiki's words hinted at more in her ears. Nabiki didn't have time to react as Kasumi pivoted in toward Nabiki on one foot, a deceptive shift and pivot that allowed her hand to come out and snag her sister's wrist. Nabiki tried to arrest her forward movement only to have her feet swept out painfully from in front of her, her arm already outstretched strangely not joining with her other arm as she fell on her face.

Kasumi dry washed her hands briskly, making small rubbing sounds as she stood above her sister. "You still have a ways to go before you can say something like that, Biki-chan." The smile on Kasumi's face was strained, more devious looking

Nabiki rolled her body, using the point her body laid against the floor as a pivoting place as she spun her body into a small rotating ball, her legs whipping out in hopes of catching her sister. Although she missed, she quickly spun up to her feet, a slight aggressive stance now held toward her sister as she smiled treacherously. "I'll just have to show you what you've missed out on, Big Sister."

Both sister's watched each other, measuring each others stance before they charged at the other.

* * *

"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ryoga cried out as he thrust forward, his pointer finger leading from his leather bound hand.

The digit flew forward, striking the surface of the rock face of a boulder in front of him. Normal physics state that when a finger strikes a boulder's surface, the boulder wins every time. Instead, the surface of the boulder under the finger punctured under the pressure of the finger, allowing the finger into its normally firm surface. As if the law of physics had taken the breaking of its normally obvious law as offense, it went one step forward and made the boulder that had been poked spontaneously blow up in the boy's face, pounding his body with shards of rock moving at the very slow speed of a five hundred foot drop in five feet.

Cologne sat nearby behind the boy, watching as the rocks clattered downward out of the air where they had suddenly taken flight. Shampoo stood nearby, arms crossed over her ample bosom, though she looked less than happy to be where she was. Mousse also stood nearby, though the chain that was coming out of his arm sleeve trailed suspiciously over to Ryoga and was currently wrapped around his waist.

"I think we're about ready to go back home, don't you?" Cologne spoke aloud, a smile on her face.

"Shampoo just want go back to Airen." Shampoo groused darkly, unhappy about coming on this training trip. Her skills had grown further under the tutelage of her great grandmother, but she had to spend nearly a week with Mousse.

"I don't appreciate being out here as a leash for him." Mousse also groused, wishing he could be back in Nerima where he could get at Ranma.

"I think that now that the training is over with, we can go back tomorrow." Cologne smiled as Ryoga stared at his hand in awe. "We're going to have to get back to work as well, the money I brought with me will only allow us to be closed for a little while longer."

Ryoga turned around to look at the Amazons. "You weren't kidding, Lady." Ryoga laughed, slightly weired out from the effects of the technique he just used. "With this, there's nothing that can possibly stop me now." His smile quickly disappeared as he looked up from his extended finger to Cologne. "But are you sure I really need this against Ranma? He wouldn't ever hurt me."

"Child." Cologne frowned as she gave Ryoga a firm glare. "Ranma has lived a hard life, maybe even harder than your own. What we intend on doing is seeing how hard he's lived." She sighed as she explained to Ryoga once again. "He may have to be restrained, and that is where you are going to come in as his physical restraint. I'd rather not have to fight him and subdue him that way."

Ryoga looked at his hand again, closing his finger to his bound hand. "If it's to help Ranma..."

Cologne smiled. _"A step towards fixing Son-in-Law..."

* * *

_

Dinner finished and the plates placed on the dinner table, Ranma frowned as he continued to sit at the table, alone. He fidgeted in place as he waited, the food getting colder on the plates as waited, now thirty minutes of nothing but the sounds of combat in the dojo. Looking down at the food, Ranma sighed to himself, wondering when they were going to finish up their spar.

The sounds of combat continued for a few more minutes before the sounds finally stopped. He shifted in place again, feeling the need to get up and to go check on them, but continued to wait for them. It took another ten minutes for Nabiki to limp into the dining room, followed by her sister, who had to drape an arm over Nabiki's shoulder just to be able to make it as far as the dinner room.

Ranma watched, shocked at how tore up they looked as they stumbled over to the table and collapsed in their places around Ranma. They looked like they didn't hold anything back from each other, Kasumi looked to be sporting a black eye, whereas Nabiki had bruises running up both of her arms. Both of them looked to be on their very last legs.

"Are you..." Ranma turned to look at the both of them, worriedly. "all right?"

Nabiki smiled weakly at Ranma. "I've felt better." Nabiki answered him, her eyes wincing as she turned to him.

"We'll be fine, Ranma." Kasumi grunted as her muscles tightened up in pain. "Just a little spar."

Ranma looked over both of Kasumi and Nabiki as they began to eat dinner, glancing at their hurts. Somehow, this didn't look like any old spar to him.

* * *

***Lime Starting Here***

Kasumi was the first out of the furo, followed closely by Nabiki. Even after they had soaked in the hot water for awhile, they were still sore. Nightclothes in place, they were on their way to their rooms when Ranma stepped out into the hallway in front of them, a towel over his shoulder.

"Ranma?" Kasumi asked, a little surprised to see Ranma. "Is something the matter?"

Ranma eyed both of the girls, Kasumi's gi in the wash and Nabiki's rather daring negligee left all the evidence that their spar had gotten a little out of control. Ranma frowned at the both of them before he motioned with his hand to follow him into his room. Kasumi and Nabiki both looked at each other in confusion before following Ranma into his room.

Ranma's room was a bit sparse, even though Nodoka normally stayed with her son, claiming to want to be near him since he had been gone for so long. Still, with as long as both of them had been there, they would have assumed that there would have been more done to the room. No pictures had been put up, no furniture had been moved in except for the very basic desk and chair in the corner. The two bedrooms had been laid out, as if Nodoka had come home early, yet they both knew that when Nodoka went to work, she was usually gone for the entire night and sometimes the next day.

Ranma moved over to the closet that held the futon rolls, opening it up casually. "Please lie down and remove your clothes." Ranma called out as he stuck his head into the closet.

Both Nabiki and Kasumi blushed bright red as they stared at Ranma's back. They glanced at each other before looking back at Ranma, who was apparently looking for something. "That's...ah...." Kasumi stuttered.

"Look, Saotome." Nabiki said, her blush slowly receding. "I'm all for getting in the sack, but with my sister?"

Ranma stopped and pulled his head out from the closet. "Sack?" He briefly glanced around the room for the sack Nabiki was talking about.

Nabiki sighed before shaking her head, shrugging at Ranma. "Figure of speech, Ranma."

Ranma eyed both Kasumi and Nabiki for a moment before ducking back into the closet.

"I'll just be right back." Kasumi smiled weakly as her fingers tugged at her full body nightgown. Taking off that would leave her in just her panties, and that was a little more naked than she wanted to be with her sister in the same room.

Nabiki looked down at her jean shorts and tank top. Tugging at her clothes, she shrugged as Kasumi headed out of the room. _"Hope he's not wanting me to get naked. I may like him, but I don't feel like baring all right about now."_

Ranma extracted himself from the closet, a basin in his hands full of lotion bottles. Smiling happily, he placed the basin between the futons and knelt in between them. "Nabiki?" Ranma called to the middle Tendo daughter, motioning with his hand to the bed.

Nabiki eyed the bed before looking back at Ranma. "Close your eyes, Ranma."

Ranma tilted his head briefly, confused, but complied. Nabiki waited to see if Ranma was going to open his eyes any time soon before she pulled her tank top and laid down on the bed face down, her arms under her chin.

"OK, Ranma. You can look again." Nabiki called out to the boy.

As soon as Ranma saw that Nabiki was laying down on the bed, he reached into the basin and opened up one of his bottles of lotion. Placing a dollop of lotion into his hands, he rubbed it into his hands before applying more, warming it between his fingers and palms before beginning to rub Nabiki's back. At first, the feel of Ranma's hands on her back made her jump, due in part to the feel of the lotion on his skin as he rubbed in into her body. Once the shock wore off, Nabiki nearly purred as whatever was in the lotion warmed her body up, and made what knots she still had after her soak start to loosen up.

Words escaped her as his hands roamed across her back, rubbing slowly across her back and down near her tail bone before he worked his hands back upwards and started over again. Once her back was covered in the lotion, he sat up a little higher and reached down with both hands, working out the knots carefully. She wanted to tell him how good it felt, but only a slow, satisfying moan would come out whenever she tried opening her mouth.

"Ranma?" Kasumi's voice called from the door, making him stop as he looked over to the eldest daughter. Kasumi stood in the doorway wearing a sun dress that barely passed mid thigh on her. Blushing in embarrassment, she fiddling with her fingers in front of herself as she blushed profusely. "I couldn't... find anything else... to wear..."

Ranma frowned at the sun dress before slowly making it back up to his feet, making sure not to disturb Nabiki as she wound down from the brief back rub Ranma had started on her. "Wait here." Ranma commented as he walked past Kasumi, heading down the hall for the furo.

"Kasumi?" Nabiki purred slightly as she glanced around the room. "What's with the dress?"

Kasumi blushed again. "This is the only thing I had..."

Nabiki frowned at that. "You could have..." That was when she realized that Kasumi only had that one piece swimsuit, not a two piece like her. "Oh..." She was about to lean back and up when Ranma returned with two towels.

"Here." Ranma announced, handing Kasumi the largest towel that was meant to wrap around her body.

Kasumi's eyes widened as Ranma handed her the towel before walking back over to Nabiki. Kneeling down, he turned himself from her as he began to work Nabiki back over with his hands, earning a moan of delight.

"Uh... Ranma?" Kasumi asked, holding the towel up carefully.

"He's not going to... ooohhhhh... look, Kasumi..." Nabiki cooed as Ranma's hands brushed low along her tail bone before he started back up on the right side of her.

Kasumi eyed Ranma, who turned just enough to look at Kasumi, giving her a heart melting smile before returning his attention back to Nabiki. Sighing to herelf, Kasumi turned around from Ranma and her sister as she pulled the sun dress up and over her head. _"I can't believe I'm undressing in front of Ranma..."_ She thought to herself, nearly dying from embarrassment, as she dropped the dress and hurried into the towel, wrapping it tightly around her.

She walked over and kneeled down beside Ranma, watching him as he continued to turn Nabiki into a puddle of contentment. Smiling to Kasumi quickly, he handed her the bottle of lotion he had used to smear his hands and Nabiki's back with. Waiting for her to understand that he wanted her to put some on her hands, he watched her rub in the concoction before taking her hands and placing them on her sister's back.

"Feel." Ranma directed as he traced Nabiki's back with his one hand before placing Kasumi's over a certain spot. She focused on what she was supposed to be feeling when Ranma massaged the spot her hand hovered over. She looked, amazed, as the muscle that had previously felt like a tight cord slackened and relaxed under her fingers. "See?" Ranma smiled to her as he continued to work on Nabiki.

"You're next." Ranma smiled to Kasumi as he got up once again and walked around Kasumi, kneeling down on the other side nearest her sister's legs and began to work on her thighs.

Nabiki jumped again, her back which had just begun to relax clenched up, hurting her as Ranma's hands touched her again. "Hah?! Ranma, what are you...?" She bit her lower lip as Ranma began to massage her legs, making her briefly see stars behind her eyelids as his fingers touched her. If his hands on her back had been nice, then on her legs was exquisite silk as he touched her.

Kasumi felt the shiver race through her sister's back as Ranma continued to massage her. She watched his arms flex and coil as he took care of Nabiki, his focus on her sister completely while his fingers traced the flesh of her legs. The sounds Nabiki was making were definitely of contentment, though Kasumi's mind was wondering if there wasn't a little bit of ecchi in that moan as Nabiki broke out in goosebumps.

He didn't stop until he reached her ankles, and by then, Kasumi was a bit flustered and upset that he was taking so long. The only consolation was that she was going to be treated the same way by him as Nabiki was.

As he stopped working on her, Nabiki didn't know where she was at, but wished that wherever it was, she could move in.

"Kasumi." Ranma brought her attention to him as he smiled at her. "Please, lie down."

Kasumi bit her lip at the simple request, glancing at her sister. She was nearly naked under the towel, not even a pair of short on to cover up her underwear. Modesty demanded that she keep her body covered unless she was with her husband to be.

"I'd give up sex just for five more minutes..." Nabiki muttered slowly, her mind still out.

Kasumi moved quickly onto the futon, pulling her towel loose as she went before spreading it open as she laid down away from Ranma, so as not to show him too much and seem too forward. Embarrassed by moving so fast, she just hoped Ranma didn't think her desperate.

Ranma blinked at the blur that was Kasumi as she quickly laid down on the other futon. Crawling back up between the sisters, Ranma took the lotion bottle from the floor and placed it near the basin before reaching up and pulling the towel downward to fold over Kasumi's hips.

His eyes caught on the few scar lines on the eldest Tendo's back. They were small, and there were only a few of them, but they stood out on the creamy skin of Kasumi. Ranma reached up tentatively and traced one, then another, unconsciously making Kasumi shiver as he inspected her body. Ranma's eyes narrowed slowly as he brushed each mark before pulling his hand back quickly, mastering himself before he got it in his head to go find Tofu again.

He warmed the lotion up once more in his hands and he worked on Kasumi's back, only he took his absolute longest time he could with her. Her hair pulled to the side, he glanced up at Kasumi's head as he massaged her body, his fingers tracing the scars every now and then as if wanting to take them from her. She stayed quiet as he touched her, shivering from time to time as he touched her over and over again, trying to be gentle and firm at the same time so as not to hurt her anymore than she had been.

When he was done with her back, he crawled downward and began to work on her ankles instead of her thighs. Her legs were unblemished, unlike her back, for which he was thankful for. He listened as she began to sigh and moan quietly, his hands working a slow rhythm as he approached her knees.

"Ranma..." Kasumi panted, her body shivering as he began to work up across the backs of her thighs.

He listened for any sound from her of pain, in case he made a mistake. It was possible to do that, and it did happen, from time to time. He didn't want to hurt Kasumi, she was too nice to be hurt.

"Ran... ma..." Kasumi's voice hitched as his hands caressed her, her body tingling all over.

He glanced up at her, stopping right where he was. She moaned out as he stopped and shifted in place before he continued to work on her.

"Oh... My..." He was nearly finished as Kasumi locked up under him, her muscles tightening up and vibrating as a hard shiver passed through her body.

Ranma jumped up and back from both of the girls as Kasumi nearly convulsed where she lay. He watched her as she began to pant her legs rubbing against each other before she moaned slowly outward. He twitched briefly as Kasumi shuddered before seeming to collapse, though she was already laying on the floor to begin with.

"Ran...ma?" Kasumi mumbled weakly, unable to see the full body twitch that Ranma gave.

"Kasumi-san?" Ranma swallowed slowly, his throat suddenly dry.

Kasumi tried to roll over, unconcerned about being barely clothed. "Hold me..." Kasumi begged to him, needing to feel him at that moment in time.

Ranma hesitated as he looked down between Nabiki and Kasumi. Nabiki looked to have fallen asleep at some point, a slight snore coming from her. He turned and hit the ligt switch before kneeling down between the sister's. Ranma pushed the basin up and out of the way as he laid down between the two, turning over on his side and spooning up against Kasumi, who rolled back into him She reached around to take hold of his wrist and pull it around her waist as she snuggled back into him.

He listened to her breathing as it slowed down. She pushed back against him once, murmuring half asleep before she settled in place. Wondering if it was safe to pull his arm back, he hitched when an arm wrapped around his waist from behind and two soft somethings pressed into his back He could feel the warm breath of Nabiki breathing against his pigtail as she scooted up against him.

"Mmmmm... warm..." she muttered in her sleep before her snoring started up again.

Ranma began sweating slightly. _"It's going to be a long night..."_

***Lime Ending Here*

* * *

Cue the Credits!**


End file.
